Mount Olympus Dance Party
by Bookworm1756
Summary: Kronos gone, Gaea defeated... What do the Greeks and Romans do? If you read the title, you would know.
1. The Ideas

**Hey, guys! For you who haven't realized this yet, this is my first fanfiction! Yay! So review! Please! I know I sound like all those other desperate people who beg peopple to review, and you just roll your eyes at them, but I don't really care _what_ you review as long as you review. Give me a virtual cookie if you want. I. Don't. Care.**

**JUST A FEW NOTES FOR PEOPLE; ONE, this is a story with songs in it. It won't be _all _songs, but there will be some. So if you don't like songs in your stories, well, then, don't read. Unless you just skip those parts. **

**TWO, I have a list of song ideas all typed out in my brain, but you are welcome to suggest your own. **

**THREE, love songs are really popular these days. But gods will be gods and unless it's Aphrodite/Venus singing, I think love songs will remain to the demigods, unless, of course, you plan some ingenious thinking and have some ideas that work. **

**DISCLAIMER: RICK OWNS THE DEMIGODS, HUNTERS, CAMP CHB AND J. THAT'S IT! 'CAUSE ANYONE CAN WRITE A STORY ABOUT GREEK AND ROMAN GODS IF THEY TRIED. PEACE!**

* * *

**Leo**

Leo sat on his bed at Camp Jupiter. Yeah, you read that right. Camp Jupiter. Ever since that… that thing possessed him and made him shoot the Roman's camp, he and the other six were on the run. Realizing that there was no possible way to defeat the awesome and mighty group of seven (Leo referred to it that way when he was alone), they turned to Camp Half-Blood.

Well, after Annabeth and Percy fell to Tartarus and closed the Doors of Death on the Underworld while Leo, Piper, Jason, Hazel, Frank and Nico closed them in the mortal world and they defeated Gaea and all that jazz, the Romans realized they had torched the wrong camp. So they were making it up to the Greeks by building up CHB with the help of Katie and some other Demeter kids (monster-infested forest) and Annabeth, who somehow had all the blueprints of every building (when Leo asked, all she said was that she was very lonely when she was 9), while the Greeks stayed in the Roman's hospitality. Leo wasn't sure if Reyna meant that as a compliment or an insult to her dignity.

So now what? Leo had asked that maybe twenty times to himself and twenty times out loud. No one knew. He guessed that when CHB was built again, he along with Piper, Percy, Annabeth and the rest of the Greeks would go back, while Jason, Reyna, Hazel and Frank would stay at Camp Jupiter, and Nico would rest somewhere in between. He wasn't sure how Piper would react to leaving Jason, much less how far back he should stand when it comes to that, but he would cross both bridges when the time came.

After that? No clue. Build stuff, he guessed. And prank people. Iris message the other camp from time to time, and maybe get a girlfriend for a change. The mortal world would go on as if nothing had ever happened. Well, except for that tiny area of Venezuela. (It involved a misunderstanding, a crowbar, and three days to put out all the fires.)

Leo remembered what he and him mom used to do when he did something great. For example, when he got a C+ on him math test. (For him, that was a great achievement.) He and his mom would go out to his favourite restaurant and order some chicken wings, and they would share the plate as their dinner that day. Leo remembered that restaurant would always have someone singing live music. Sometimes they even did a little karaoke. Leo remembered this one time, when his mother went on stage and sang, she had the most beautiful voice, and—

He stopped, thought for a second, and then ran out of his cohort screaming for Chiron.

* * *

**Annabeth**

Annabeth sat down in the dead field of grass that used to be her home. She remembered sitting here with Percy while they were dating, in the few months before the Gaea trouble. He had kissed her in that same spot. And then he had beaten her team in capture the flag.

She sighed. Good times.

Even though it was her lunch break, she still had a bunch of blueprints laid out in front of her. Leo had asked where she got them. She told them that once she was bored when she was 9. She finished with that, hoping he'd just assume she was architect crazy. The entire truth was that she had stolen them from the Big House.

When she was 9.

The Romans had already built half of the cabins and a few other buildings, not including the Athena cabin. Annabeth would have liked to eat lunch there, but it was not scheduled for rebuilding until 3 in the afternoon.

She munched on her sandwich and watched as the Romans wheeled a wheelbarrow full of cement past her. As much as she wanted to hate the Romans for turning her demigod home into a barren wasteland, she had to admire them. It was just like New Rome at Camp Jupiter. The more she willed herself to hate the Romans, the more she admired them. The camp was half built, and it was only the second day of work.

She stuffed the rest of the sandwich into her mouth and got up. Time to get back to work, she thought. It's getting near time to build the Big House, and I don't want them to place it over the lake or something. She wouldn't put it past them to do that.

As she walked across the field, she heard someone call her name. She turned around and spotted Katie and two of her Demeter siblings running toward her.

"The forest's half done," she panted, leaning forward with her hands on her knees. "We just need to take the map… For Zeus' Fist… Please…"

Annabeth placed the blueprints on the floor and shuffled through them, waiting for the map of Camp Half-Blood to appear. She found it, and, still kneeling on the hard ground, gave Katie the map.

She took it with one hand. "Thanks," she mumbled, and she and her siblings turned to go back to their forest growing.

Annabeth bunched her blueprints and papers all back together a little faster than she ought to have, but the ground was digging into her knees and she was running a little late. In this frenzy, she gave herself a paper cut.

"Ow," she muttered to herself, sucking on her finger. She spotted the blueprint that gave her the cut. It was the new designed Mount Olympus she had planned. After the fall of Kronos (for the second time), Olympus was destroyed, so the gods appointed her the architect in charge of rebuilding the place. It was already built, but Annabeth liked to keep old blueprints for later designs to give her ideas.

This was one of her favourite blueprints. It was Olympus for the gods' sake! But it was just the way she had planned it, it was like going from preschool to university and still getting a diploma. Big achievement.

But after a year, it had started to get a little smudged. Especially in this one corner of the roof Annabeth found looked like a balloon. She chuckled as she stood up with her papers cradled like they were a baby in her arms, she could just imagine what the gods would be like in a party. Of course, she knew, she had been to one, but what if there had been more… Annabeth always found that that party had been missing something.

Then the air shimmered, and Dionysus appeared.

* * *

**Travis**

"This is going to be sweet!"

Unlike Annabeth, who wanted to resent the Roman's any way possible, Travis and his younger brother, Connor, had totally forgiven the guys who had destroyed Camp Half-Blood. Well, as long as they could stay at Camp Jupiter. There were so many new people here! So many people to prank…

At the moment, they were getting ready to blast fireworks into the girl's bathroom. Well, that's what the people around them called it. It was more of a giant church full of water in every form it can take and half-naked girls.

"Ready?"

"Go!"

Connor lit the match and they both bolted away from the back door and hid in some bushes where they could see what happened, but nobody could see them.

At first, nothing happened. Then there was an explosion, and a scream. Two more loud bangs, and a lot more girls screaming in high pitch. Some Greek girls shouted Travis' and Connor's names, but mostly everyone just screamed.

"I wonder what Katie would do if she was in there," whispered Travis as they watched the show unfold. A gazelle, zebra and griffen made out of fireworks walked out the back door as he said this.

"You like Katie, don't you," said Connor with a quick sideways glance at Travis.

"No! How could you say that! Well, I like to prank her at least." Travis smiled in a way that he hoped would end the conversation. Not much luck.

"Oh, come of it! You like her. Why do you bring her up every time possible, then?" asked Connor, shifting sideways to face his brother.

Travis didn't know how to answer. But he wasn't going to be a grudge holder by completely ignoring his brother. "Do you think all the fireworks are gone?" he asked, changing the subject.

"No," said Connor, and Travis thanked the gods he put down the subject of Katie. The truth was he did like her, but he wasn't about to tell anyone that. "Remember when we did this trick to the Aphrodite cabin? The fireworks were still going off after a week."

"Yeah," said Travis. "Come on. Let's get out of here." They stood up and walked away from the building, sneaking backward glances at the semi-naked girls squealing as they ran out of the bathroom being chased by firework lions.

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**BOOKWORM HERE, PEACE OUT! REPLY AND REVIEW! GOOD OR BAD, WHATEVER! :)**


	2. Dionysus Approves

**HEY, GUYS! I KNOW THIS IS THE SAME DAY I POSTED THE FIRST CHAPTER, BUT IT'S SATURDAY, AND I AM SOOOO BORED. SO, SECOND CHAPTER, EVERYONE! (ps; if you look at the ratings for this story, it says this is rated T. I am very paranoid, and you know how some songs swear? Yeah. So I wanted to rate it K+ because the dirtiest word that comes out of my mouth is "Crud". But Ke$ha and other people say real nasty things. If it contains adultery or very no-no things, I won't post the song, but I will post if it swears a little bit. So, be careful. Remember, you have the right to shout out a song, but I will check the lyrics, don't think I won't. Reply and Review!)**

**DISCLAIMER: ****RICK OWNS SOME THINGS, LIKE THE DEMIGODS AND RACHEL AND THE CAMPS AND THE HUNTERS OF AWESOMENESS. **

* * *

**Leo**

Leo knew where Chiron would be. With Dionysus, playing poker with grapes or something.

Where was Dionysus? No clue.

He ran into the Stoll brothers. "Hey, do you guys know where Chiron and Dionysus are?" he asked.

"No idea," said Connor. And that was when a girl from the Athena cabin wearing a white toga walked up to the brothers and slapped them both. "You total IDIOTS!" she cried. Leo was taken aback. What had the Stolls done this time? "Why couldn't you just NOT GET INTO TROUBLE FOR ONE-FREAKING-DAY!" And then she started ranting at them in French.

"What did you guys do this time?" Leo asked Travis while the Athena girl called them names in French and made very rude gestures in the background.

"Remember what we did to the Aphrodite cabin in April?" he replied. Leo nodded. Piper had been very upset. All of the Aphrodite kids had been. Annabeth's sister switched to German. It was then that Leo realized that she wasn't wearing a toga; they were towels.

"Wanna go now?" asked Connor, who had been watching the girl yell with a morsel of amusement on his face. She switched to African, Chinese, and for a second, to Spanish. Leo winced.

"What did she say?" asked Travis as she stormed off. Leo shook his head.

"Nothing," he said, thinking about what his mother would do if he had said. He shook the thought away. "You guys better go find somewhere to hide," he said. "I hear Roman girls aren't as forgiving as Greeks are, and they just don't slap you and call you rude names."

**-o-O-o-**

It wasn't hard to find Chiron after that. All Leo had to do was follow the stream of furious only-wearing-towels girls.

Chiron and Dionysus sat on a bench near the Mess Hall. Sure enough, they were playing poker with grapes. An angry horde of girls crowded around them. Chiron seemed concerned that most of them were only wearing towels. Dionysus just looked bored, weaving a grape between his fingers. He wasn't very good at it, and whenever the grape fell onto the table, he got all mad at it and mad it explode. Then he just picked up another one and tried again.

"Travis—"

"—And Connor!"

"Outrageous!"

"Unacceptable behavior!"

"Our guests!"

"How could they?"

"They dare..."

"Ladies, ladies," said Dinoysus. "First think ahead. What do you want us to do about these two boys who call Ted and Colin?"

"Do something, you lazy moron!"

Suddenly it went quiet. Leo stopped in his tracks and backed away a few steps. So did most of the girls.

"I'll do something alright," said Dionysus, (twirl, fall, explode, pick new one, repeat). "If you pack of squealing little girls don't go squealing to someone else in the next 5 seconds, those cloths you're wearing will be pointless, having been tossed up on the roof of some building by some _lazy moron's_ power."

The girls were gone even before he finished his sentence.

Leo approached when he felt it was safe. "Chiron?"

"Yes?"

It was then that Leo realized he wasn't sure what he was going to say. "May I speak to you? Alone?" he added quickly.

"Just say it here," said Dionysus without looking up.

Leo swallowed and stated his idea.

He knew it was a bad move even before he finished speaking. "I don't know, Leo," said Chiron, looking skeptical. "I could ask the gods, but-"

"I'm here," said Dionysus. He put down his grape and picked up a knife sitting at the edge of the table. He pointed it at Leo and opened his mouth to speak, but instead gave into a short snort when Leo flinched. "Yeah, like Zeus would let me hurt you. I'd get another twenty-five years with you and those other rotten demigods, and that would not help my dignity and self-esteem. Going back a few conversations, when do you plan on doing this idea of yours?"

Leo swallowed. "Uh, I don't know," he stammered, mouth unusually dry even though he just swallowed. "I could get some of my siblings to help construct, and maybe someone could organize, and maybe-" His voice faltered when he realized Dionysus was giving him a strange look.

"It was just an idea," he said quickly. "We don't have to do it, I just thought-"

"Stop," said Dionysus. "Stop right there. You get three of your siblings over here. Those two kids, Ted and Colin can do opening act. Obviously people like them." He smiled and Leo realized he had just said a joke. "I'll contact Apollo. Someone get me in contact with Annie Bell." Dionysus gave in to a small smile. Leo wondered if this was the first time he saw him do this. "One week, Lenny. Don't screw up."

He put down his knife and reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin and a lighter—what mortals used to start fires. He pressed a switch, and instead of fire, a rainbow came out. Dionysus tossed his coin into the rainbow, muttering something quietly. The coin disappeared on contact with the rainbow. The air shimmered, and a shot of Annabeth kneeling on the floor next to a bunch of blueprints appeared.

* * *

**Annabeth**

"Ah, just the person I wanted to see," said Dionysus. Annabeth saw Chiron in the corner of the image, as well as Leo, who looked as if he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be there or not.

"You wanted to see me? Sir?" she added in haste.

"Yes... You were the girl who designed Olympus, correct?"

"Yes," said Annabeth unsurely, not sure where this was going. "Sir."

"Good. Here's the plan. We're going to throw a big party on Olympus. Just to celebrate our second victory against your crazed grandparents in the past decade. You design the party with one of your Athena buddies. Leo and three of his siblings are going to work on the effects, and the Steal brothers are doing the opening act. I'm host." He said this with a small smile. Annabeth wondered if this was the first time she ever saw him do that.

"Okay, sir." Annabeth was about to ask who the Steal brothers were, but quickly realized he meant the Stoll brothers, so didn't add that. "But, uh, while you're here, we're currently building the Big House. You said you wanted a what-machine?" Dionysus had been complaining about this ever since she could remember, and she thought he might be grateful enough not to turn her into a dolphin if she changed this.

"Pepsi," he said, then picked up a knife laying next to him and pointed at her threatiningly. "Don't screw that up."

Annabeth nodded as the iris-message faded. She hoped she wouldn't. It was only after the message had gone completely that she remembered to ask whether that was diet or not.

* * *

**Poor Annabeth...**

**Review!**


	3. Do Gods Choose?

**Thank you so much for the people who reviewed so far, _silverivymlp, seaweed-girl-998, Lyra daughter and heir o Chaos , emmalunajackson33 _and _jason8926_. Thank you! You are amazing people! If you want to shout out a future song, give me the name and artist. If I approve of it, I may be able to squeeze it in somewhere...**

**Oh, and, _emmalunajackson33, _thank you! I can't fix everything in one edit. (I know. I've tried.)**

**And people! Just because I upload 3 times in one day doesn't mean I don't have a social life. I just finished watching The Hunger Games even though the movie came out ages ago. I feel bad for Cato now... But the thing is, I really want to get to the song part of this story (it is the whole point, really), so if I put all the talk in one day, people won't have a reason to be out to get me with Celestrial Bronze torches and Imperial Gold pitchforks! **

**On with it! And may the gods ever be in your favour!**

* * *

**Jason**

You know how on some computers, when you put a : and a ) together, you get a smiley face? And if you put a : and a ( , a sad face shows up instead?

That's how Jason felt. As if the difference of one symbol changed his meaning entirely.

The Greeks were going to Camp Half-Blood that day, and the Romans were holding a big goodbye party. Jason was happy, for he was with Piper. But he had the gut instinct that the second she boarded the Argo II with the rest of the Greeks, he wouldn't smile for weeks. Of course, he'd keep in touch with her by using Iris-messages, but you can't exactly carry a rainbow around in your pocket like a coin, and it just wouldn't be the same.

"Have you noticed Leo is acting, well, odd?" Piper asked as they walked to the Mess Hall for the good-bye feast.

"Huh?" asked Jason. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts he hadn't realized Piper had been talking to him until she snapped her fingers in front of his face.

Jason had a feeling on any other subject she would have laughed and called him silly. But she kept a straight face on. "Leo," she repeated. "You're friend, remember him? Haven't you noticed all this week he's been with his Hephaestus siblings Alyssa, Jake and Harley?"

Jason _had _noticed that, but he hadn't put too much thought into it. "Harley," he said. "Like the motorcycle?"

"What do you think is up?" continued Piper, ignoring his obvious statement on the eight-year-old's name. "They're obviously planning something, and for some reason, the Stolls and Annabeth are part of it. Annabeth is always too busy to talk, and the last prank I saw was the firework/Roman baths thing."

Jason remembered that day. Reyna hadn't been happy, and neither did fifty other girls who were in the building at the time.

"I don't know," he said as he wrapped an arm around Piper and hugged her close as they walked. Piper didn't resist his touch or say another word, which Jason found an improvement. "But I'm sure it will present itself when it will."

**-o-O-o-**

It presented itself later on in the night.

The awesome and mighty group of seven (Jason thinks that Leo didn't intend to tell him that) sat at a table by themselves. After that talk he and Piper had on the way to the Mess Hall, Jason paid more attention to what the others were doing. Percy was trying to get thrown grapes into his mouth, and Hazel was making rubies on the floor shoot up from the ground, then sink back in. (As Octavian walked by, she made it so that the ruby tripped him, but made it disappear before he could realized what happened.) Frank was picking aimlessly at his food, and Annabeth was so absorbed in her papers that she hardly touched her plate at all. And Leo kept sneaking sideway glances at his siblings who were reclining not too far away. Jason couldn't help but notice Harley was lying on his back, throwing a small airplane into the air, and gleefully grabbing it as it shot by him after it fifth sweep of the room.

Kids will be kids, he decided. Even if they're demigods.

A nymph went by their table, and, blushing at Jason and giving him a flirtatious wink, placed a plate of spicy chicken wings on the table. Jason grabbed two, Frank three and Hazel one. Leo didn't take any at all.

Piper was right. Something was going on.

Before he could voice his thoughts, Percy interrupted by speaking. "I never really got how you Romans got the idea of reclining while eating. Like, was there this phase in time where all the chairs in Italy were burned because some emperor dude's dad got stabbed in one? But after that emperor got stabbed on a sofa, chairs were brought back, but everyone liked laying down while they ate, so they continued?" He turned on his back and tossed a grape into the air. It missed his open mouth and rolled to the floor. Jason waited for Annabeth to correct this, as she usually did when Percy assumed something. She just nodded and stared intensely at her papers. When Jason tried to sneak a glance at them, she waved them off with a French fry.

Then the second interruption. "Romans and Greeks!" Chiron shouted. Slowly, the voices diminished. **(AN: I love that word.) **"Thank you. Dionysus?" she stepped aside revealing the wine god reclining and drinking from a golden goblet. The only sound heard in the room was him chugging from the cup. Then he stood. His Roman toga drooped from his shoulder.

"Hell-OOOOO, Greeeeeks and RomAAAANSSS-ah!" he clearly shouted . Jason heard Dakota whisper from another table, "That's my dad!"

Jason had too good of a heart to point out that that wasn't really a good thing.

"Well, as you AAALLL know, Gaea is dead!" the semi-drunk god yelled a tad louder than necessary. There was a small uproar, but when Dionysus waved his arms a little too dramatically, it stopped. No one laughed at this. At least, no one who wanted to spend the rest of their lives as a human.

"And KRONOS is as well," continued Dionysus, shouting the enemy's name a little louder than he should have with his arms still raised. "Now that is that, WEEEE have PLANED to take you AAAALLLLL on a field trip-p-p-p!" As much as he hated himself for doing so, Jason found the spluttering a little bit funny.

"Enough!" he yelled, his voice growing a little hoarse. He gave a small cough, attempted to speak again, but when his voice still squeaked, he coughed in a way Jason found someone trying to get attention would. "Now, this trip will take place next Friday at-" Dionysus staggered on the spot.

"Gods, it's incredible he's still standing," said Percy, moving a tad on his recliner sofa to be able to get into a speaking distance between him and Jason. He couldn't really deny it, but didn't want to be turned into a dolphin if was heard by this mystery person they were talking about, so Jason just nodded quickly. He had seen the outcome of people who had gotten on the wrong side of Dionysus. And that was when he was a kidnapped hostage.

"At ten!" finished Dionysus. "AT TEN!" he repeated. (Jason wondered if gods actually got drunk, or if they chose to be. Either way, Dionysus needed to go on a sober-more diet.) "Don't want to, don't come. But I... re... co... mm-mmend..."

Then he left, saying something about needing a washroom.

Jason turned back to his food. He didn't know what was going on at Olympus at ten in the evening next Friday, or did he know what was up with Annabeth and Leo and possibly the Stolls, or if the two were related or not. The only thing he did know, however, was that the chicken wings in front of him weren't going to eat themselves.

* * *

**In the name of demigodishness, bookwormishness and all other good things, Review! And if you catch any mistakes, do what _emmalunajackson33 _did. You are awesome! And everyone who caught what I did in the author's note is also awesome! **

**Rick owns some of this! **


	4. Discovering Olympus

**FINALLY the party starts. And thank you for the 179 people who have so far viewed this story only after 3 days. I'm guessing half of the people didn't get past the first chapter, but that shows you care enough about me to at least check out my story. **

**PS, -o-O-o- means is like a line break but still in the same person's perspective. **

**Rick owns some of this. Not the plot. I have that. But he DOES own some of the characters, like Percy and Annabeth and Frank and Hazel and Leo and Piper and Jason.**

**On with it! And may the gods ever if in your favor! (That's like my trademark now.)**

* * *

**Jason**

The Greeks left a few hours later. It seemed to last all of eternity, watching Piper board the Argo II with the rest of the Greeks. Oh, as well as Leo, Percy and Annabeth, but mostly Piper.

So now it was only the Romans. Jason hadn't really completely thought about that. They were going back to the old, easy times. Greek free. They were separated until the next crazed grandparent of the gods decides to take over the world.

Well, not entirely. There was that thing Bacchus (Dionysus, wine dude, Jason didn't care) was talking about. On Mount Olympus. But how on earth were they going to get there? The Greeks, easy, just walk, but you couldn't exactly do that all across a country, could you?

So, back at square one. Sulk. Life was going to seem to be so boring now, too easy. Jason wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

He got up from his bed in Cohort 5 and went outside. It seemed as if the Greeks had never been there, staying in their hospitality. The Romans chatted between themselves, laughing, poking each other with lethal knives, fighting. Same as always. Nothing ever happened.

Jason made up his mind. He needed to see Reyna. He wanted to see the Greeks one last time.

**-o-O-o-**

Jason stood at Mount Olympus in New York with the rest of camp, the feeling in his legs just coming back. Some Romans lay on the ground clutching their stomachs. Some were kneeling at the edge of Olympus and throwing up over the side. Some tried and failed to stand. Others were luckier, and they had passed out on the trip so they didn't have to endure the after effects. Reyna was apparently the only one unaffected along with two twins from Cohort 3. Daughters of Apollo. Of course.

Jason kneeled on the floor. "Oh, gods," he said to no one. "That... that was some ride..."

"Well, we're here now," said Reyna, walking up to him and helping him up. "Where do we go?"

No clue. Jason could hear music in the distance, though, so that would probably be their final destination. "Come on," he said, rising to his feet without acknowledging Reyna's outstretched hand.

As they started to walk, Jason spotted a minor goddess exit her house (okay, freakishly huge mansion) and walk the same way they were going. He also spotted two demigods chatting side by side. He knew those demigods, and they knew him.

Piper and Leo ran to the Romans. "Oh, gods, what happened?" asked Piper, peering behind Jason's shoulder at the sick Romans ten feet behind them.

"Apollo happened," said Gwen. She had just returned from throwing up over the side of Olympus. "He offered to take us to New York yesterday as he passed by the world in his sun chariot. 'It'll be just like a plane ride, but longer' he said. I knew we shouldn't have trusted him. For some reason, he thought taking us on a different path, one just a little rockier and closer to earth, would be fun. More like entertainment for himself. Well, at least I got to see the Taj Mahal up close. Too bad the fires must be spreading."

Leo was looking at other matters. "Gwen, you do know all that barf has to end up somewhere. Like, on the heads of random pedestrians, right?"

"How did you guys get here?" asked Bobby, joining them. He had been on of the people who had been the least affected, but affected nonetheless.

"Yes, how did you Greeks arrive?" asked Reyna. Jason noticed she was giving Piper a mean look.

"Well, we teleported," said Leo. "With the help of Dionysus. But for some reason, he couldn't just waste a few extra seconds to go directly to Olympus. No, we all had to wait in this long line in the Empire State Building's lobby to board the elevators. And the music in those things suck!"

"Consider yourself lucky," said Gwen. She looked around. "Hey, where is Apollo?"

"Left," said some guy from the second Cohort. "Saying something about needing to be somewhere."

"I wonder, who drives the sun when Apollo is busy?" said Bobby as they followed Piper and Leo's lead to the final destination. The Cohort 2 guy left.

"His carriages go by themselves," Reyna answered, straight faced and looking ahead. "Apollo is the god of other things, not just the sun."

"How do you know that?" asked Piper. Reyna gave her a sharp glare.

Reyna snapped her head around. "If you paid attention in class," she said distastefully. Then Reyna said simply picked up her pace and walked ahead, leaving the group of five deserted.

A few more minutes of walking and they arrived at the heart of Olympus. Jason took in a sharp breath. It was just like in movies, but ten times better. On the side there was a snack table extending for what seemed forever, but it wasn't just a snack table. It was a snack _paradise, _with chocolate fountains the size of actual fountains, marshmallows **(AN: you spell it like that?) **the size of plush toys, a statue of what seemed like a replica of the world made of various fruit that stayed as a sphere even when gods, demigods, nymphs, et cetera, took from it, a cake in the shape of the United States the size of a small backyard and several feet thick, and even a bar of ambrosia and nectar with two nymphs serving from behind the counter. Instead of asking for an ID to ensure you are 18 or older, **(AN: In Canada it's 18. I'm not sure if it is in the US or in different countires) **they asked for variation that you were a god or goddess by asking you to turn a jellybean into a chunk of chocolate.

Lights flashed from everywhere, though Jason wasn't sure from where. He was amazed by all the colours, some being shades of blue or pink that weren't supposed to exist, much less being colours he had seen before. A few meters beside a stage that hovered a few meters off the ground to different places was a DJ that was the size of a two story house. From invisible speakers the song _Sexy B**** _played at a volume loud enough for people (and gods) to hear, but since it was only nine forty-five it wasn't playing too loud. Two screens showing what was on stage—which was nothing at the moment—were fixed in the air as if by nothing. The tiled floor under Jason's feet changed textures, colours and styles every five seconds. Not once did Jason catch it do the same design twice.

Gods and goddesses and demigods and nymphs and satyrs and various monsters and hunters and Amazons and a few other Greek and Roman folk that cannot be categorized and even a mortal were present. (Rachel.) **(AN: Has anyone else noticed that Rachel's name, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, spells RED when you take away all the letters of each word except the first one? Review to see if that is intended by Rick, being his idea of a joke since Rachel is a redhead, or it's just me!) **Jason spotted Venus shamelessly flirting with Mars, Vulcan standing only a few feet away, oblivious to this treachery. Diana and Minerva were talking about something very enthusiastically, while Neptune and Jupiter were arguing quite loudly. Pluto was not present, even if his wife Proserpina was, chatting with her mother, Ceres. Apollo was nowhere in sight. The hunters of Dia- Sorry, _Artemis_ and the Amazons were having an argument, Thalia and Hylla leading the fight. Eros was stacking a large pile of marble cake onto a plate and walking over to the nymph's bar to pour some nectar over it like syrup on pancakes. Fortuna and Nemisis were also fighting, some of their demigod children standing nearby, rooting their parent on.

Somehow, even the bathrooms managed to look glamorous. As tall as three buildings and as wide as two, and with what Jason would later learn marble flooring and domed ceilings and diamond chandeliers.

Jason was so awed that he almost missed Annabeth, Percy, Hazel and Frank walking toward them. Annabeth gave Jason a hug. "Jason! Hi! I love this party, and it hasn't even started." She moved on to hug the next Roman person in line, Gwen.

Percy chuckled. "She obsessed with this place, of course, seeing as she designed it."

Jason gave him a wide eyed look. "You're serious?" he asked. He turned to Annabeth, who was grinning like crazy, having finished greeting Gwen and Bobby as they left for somewhere else. "You seriously designed this entire place?"

She shrugged. "With the help of Malcom, my half-brother but"—squeal—"Yes! I did. Isn't it amazing? And Leo, Nyssa, Jake and Harley- love the name, by the way, tell him that for me—made all the effects with the help of Hephaestus. Like the shadow-less, floating stage and DJ. And the mikes up on the stage." She pointed at the floating stage passing above them. "They make anyone who sings in them sound as if they've been singing their entire life, meaning, wonderful."

"People are going to be going up there?" asked Piper, craning her neck upwards.

"Yep," replied Leo. "For example, the Stolls."

"What about the Stolls?" asked Frank.

Leo smiled mischievously. "I said too much."

"How do you get there anyway?" asked Hazel as the shadow-less stage finished passing by them.

"You have to talk to the DJ for that," said Annabeth.

"Who is the DJ."

"Gods, guys, can't you just stop asking questions for two—"

Without even a second's notice, everything went pitch black.

* * *

**Cliffhanger. Muahahahaha! **

**Jason sees the gods as Romans. So, quick little chart i found off the internet to explain such mind-messing thing. **

**_Zeus Jupiter_**  
**_Poseidon Neptune_**  
**_Hades Pluto_**  
**_Hestia Vesta_**  
**_Hera Juno_**  
**_Ares Mars_**  
**_Athena Minerva_**  
**_Apollo Apollo_**  
**_Aphrodite Venus_**  
**_Hermes Mercury_**  
**_Artemis Diana_**  
**_Hephaestus Vulcan_**  
**_Demeter Ceres_**  
**_Dionysus Bacchus_**  
**_Eros Cupid_**  
**_Hypnos Somnus_**  
**_Nike Victoria_**

**(I did copy/paste that.)**

**Just a quick thanks to thanks to _seaweed-girl-998_ again. Have another virtual cookie! Also, I didn't explain what all the gods were doing at the party because that would just take forever. I wanted to put in the first song of the story, but then the chapter would be too long. And, besides, it is better this way.**

**Bye for now! Review! Reply! PM if you must! Bookworm, signing out.**


	5. The Stoll's Big Entrance

**Thank you everyone who viewed and even more to the people who reviewed! Cookies to you all! **

**And I have, like 5 or 6 favourites and 5 or 6 follows! I can't remember which one is which!**

**Me: Hello, Rick.  
****Rick: Hello, you.  
****Me: May I ask you a question?  
****Rick: Shoot.  
****Me: Can I have your characters?  
****Rick:...  
****Me: Rick, I said-  
****Rick:...  
****Me: Rick, hello? Are you okay?  
****Rick:...  
****Me: (sigh) I better get out of here before he gets mad and tries to kill me. (walk away)  
****Rick:...**

**Big entrance now! Stolls are coming back. Eeee! (Okay, seriously, I've had a crush on Connor ever since book four, BTL) **

**On with it! And my the gods ever be in your favour!**

* * *

**Connor**

He was nervous. No denying it. Fifty feet in the air standing above the most powerful beings ever to exist. How could he not?

Well, he had faith in Hephaestus' design. Travis would emerge from the stage. Connor would seem to emerge from nothing, using this trick. Their guest performer, well, that'll be for later.

Connor had been there for some while. In that time, his palms managed to become sweaty, his legs turn into toothpicks, and his arms in lead. No one could see him from up here. So when the music played, it would seem as if he came from nowhere. It was a cool trick, as well as the microphone he was rending sticky. It could make anyone who sang into it sound just as they wanted to sound when they sang; good. Connor needed that.

They had been practicing all week, him and Travis. He knew these lyrics, he did. The song they had chosen had been easy to memorize for he had already known parts of it for he had it on his iPod. He knew what to do. He had also practiced with Travis when to pause, keep going, start, stop...

He could do this.

The lights and music blacked out. Connor took in a deep breath to calm his nerves. One... two... three...

Suddenly, music boomed from the darkness, and a voice from nowhere called, _"Turn it up!"_

_"Let it play,"_ Connor replied into the microphone. A small grin broke on his face.

_"I wanna hear that sound,"_ continued Travis.

_"'Till my windows break,"_ yelled Connor into the microphone.

_"Turn it up!"_ yelled Travis again, and Connor took his lead by adding, _"Let it play."_

_"I wanna hear that sound-" _

_"'Til my windows break, yeah!" _

Suddenly, the lights flashed back on. Connor was nearly blinded. He caught Travis standing on the stage which had teleported itself in the darkness to the front. He spotted the DJ hovering next to it. Connor stood still invisible on his floating saucer thingy. (Actually, it was just a hovering podium and extruded a colourful flashing walkway when you wanted to walk off it.)

_"Let me hear you say turn it up," _said the Stolls' guest from behind the DJ. He got a few squeals from the girls, a few eye rolls from the Hunters, but mostly, when he pointed at the crowd, people and gods echoed, _"Turn it up!" _

Apollo flashed his blinding teeth. Today he chose to look around 18 years old. Magic microphone that he didn't need for his voice was already outstanding (god of music, hello?), he stood up.

_"I need to hear that thing when I'm rolling up  
That system ain't just cold enough  
And then them niggas sweet fizz ain't holdin' up  
I_ _need to hear that knock like hello_  
_I am ready for the summer like a Gemini, get it!_  
_Poobah the name is yah your boy did it_  
_When you see that fire I lit it_  
_I make that party rock-" _

_"Party rock!" _the crowd cheered.

_"At the very minimum I make 30 rock_  
_Got a time like Tina phasin' the party_  
_Let the bass control your body_  
_And let me control what you're thinking_  
_You know it's good for you, put down your drinking_  
_Get up, stand up, hands up_  
_It's time to rock so get to it!" _

While all this was happening, Connor had been timing his steps down from the podium to the stage, now visible to everyone. As the last line was played from behind the DJ, the lights faded away from Apollo, and Connor high-fived Travis' hand from below as they walked to the front-most of the stage. In the split-second before Travis opened his mouth to sing, Connor spotted a crowd- no, _gods_ cheering for him and his heart lifted so much he broke into this giant smile that spread all across his face.

_"Let it play," _Connor remembered to sing just in time.

_"I wanna hear that-" _

_"Sound 'til my windows break-" _

_"Turn it up!" _

_"Let it play." _

_"I wanna hear that-" _

_"Sound 'til my windows-"_

_"Break, yeah!"_ On the last two words, the Stolls' pumped their fists into the air for every syllable. Connor spotted Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Piper, Jason, Hazel and Frank in the crowd. If it was possible for him to feel better about himself than he did then, it would go to the history books, for Connor felt as if he had won the 75 billion lottery and didn't have to share any of it with anyone. He felt like a child on Christmas day, who practically flew downstairs to find the entire floor was full to the roof with presents.

He felt as if he were a god.

_"Turn it up, just, just turn it up!" _sang Travis. Connor pointed at the fans below and they yelled, _"Oh wow." _Connor wondered how they would react to an even crazier song.

_"Turn it up, make the speakers bust!" _remembered Connor.

_"Turn it up!" _

_"Let it play." _

_"JUST TURN IT UP!" _Connor yelled just to see the reaction. The crowd gave into the best _"oh wow!" _yet. (Of course, the microphone prevented his voice from crackling, so that saved him from the later embarrassment.)

_"I wanna hear that sound-" _

_"'Til my windows-" _

_"Break-" _

_"YEAH!" _the Stolls chanted as one. Just as they practiced, they knelt and pulled their heads low, swinging their microphone arm up and the free one over their faces. This all was in one swift motion, so when the lights faded from them and onto Apollo who managed to squeeze himself into the crowd to continue the song, it looked pretty wicked. Once Connor felt the heat off his face dispersed, he leapt to his feet and turned the microphone off so when he moved it wouldn't project itself across the invisible speakers. Travis did the same. They silently fist-bumped.

"Awesome work!" Travis quietly praised.

"You too," whispered Connor. "Come on."

Quietly, they snuck off the stage in different directions and clambered up the Hephaestus Podium- yeah, Connor liked that, the Hephaestus podium, also known as the HP- on either side of the stage, Connor going on the same one he had used before.

Once up on the HP, Connor tuned back into the music just in time to see Apollo say, _"turn it up, see the knees get weaker,  
Killioo, stereo, no ether_  
_Turn it up, land into Ibiza_  
_DJ got this on T_  
_I wanna speak cuz go, I wanna do it again!"_

_"Turn it up!"_ Connor flicked on the microphone and sang first this time, just as the lights flashed in his face at the same time as Travis' had.

_"Let it play," _chanted Travis.

_"I wanna hear that sound-" _

_"'Til my windows break-" _

_"Turn it up!" _

_"Let it play." _

_"I wanna hear that sound-" _

_"'Til my windows break- YEAH!" _Connor pumped his fist in unison with Travis on the last word.

_"Turn it up! Just, just turn it up!" _(Travis.)

_"Oh woh!" _yelled the crowd with Connor's lead.

_"Turn it up, make the speakers bust!" _The Stolls made a swinging motion across their neck with their free hand for every syllabil in the last three words.

_"Turn it up! Let it play!" _(Connor.)

_"Just turn it up!" (Oh woh) _

_"I wanna hear that sound-" _started Connor and finished with Travis, saying, _"til my windows break yeah!"_

_"I wanna see you turn this up  
I don't care where you come_ _from_," said Apollo back from behind his DJ. He was now wearing a sideways cap and cool black shades. He might have been wearing them before, just that Connor hadn't noticed it. Hey, a lot was going on at the moment.

_"Decibels out of here  
If you don't got the current you'd better get some  
Cuz we gonna celebrate every time my window break from that sub frequency  
Let it go, let it out, let it play  
Get wild like you ain't got no decency  
You never rocked like this recently  
That's cuz we easily!"_

_Turn it up!"_ sang Connor.

_"Let it play."_

_I wanna hear that sound til my windows break!"_

_"Turn it up!"_

_"Let it play."_

_"I wanna hear that sound til my windows break, yeah!" _

_"Turn it up!"_

_"Let it play."_

_"I wanna hear that sound-"_

_"'Til my windows break-"_

_"Turn it up!"_

_"Let it play."_

_"I wanna hear that sound til my windows break-"_

_"YEAH!" _shouted Connor, raising a fist half toward the crowd, half into the air with his index and middle finger extruding- a peace sign.

The music continued to play, and Apollo yelled, _"Party!" _

...

_"T.A.N.!"_

_"Turn it up!" _Together, this time. "_Let it play. I wanna hear that sound til my windows break, YEAH!" _

The lights faded, and the Stolls raised both arms up in the air at the same counting. Then Connor broke into a humongus grin. People cheered below him. Apollo cheered with the rest of him, yanking off his hat and shades and threw them at the crowd (but not before signing them both first in Sharpie.)

"Thank you!" yelled Travis into the mic. "Thank you all!"

"Yeah!" Connor yelled. "Keep on rockin'!"

Connor waved and in unison, the brothers stamped the HP and were teleported to the ground.

* * *

**Not much of an ending. Don't kill me.**

**(Okay, who here noticed that Grover was only mentioned twice in the Mark of Athena. Anyone?)**

**Review! Bookworm1756, out!**


	6. Convincing Drew

**Favourite Bookworm here! I don't really have anything to say this time, so I will do something that I intended to do in the first chapter but forgot. **

_**I HATE YOU RICK RIORDAN! IF I WAS DYING I WOULD CURSE YOU RIGHT AFTER YOU FINISHED YOUR SERIES AND I FINISHED READING THEM! HOW COULD YOU LET ANNABETH AND PERCY FALL INTO TARTARUS? HOW COULD YOU! AND US, INNOCENTLY WAITING FOR THE MARK OF ATHENA AN ENTIRE YEAR, JUST TO HAVE OUR HEARTS BROKEN, YOU FORCING US TO WAIT AN ENTIRE FLIPPIN' YEAR! **_

**Another thing;**_** WHAT WHERE YOU DRINKING WHEN YOU MADE LEO SHOOT AT THE ROMANS? THEY COULD HAVE BEEN BEST FRIENDS, BUT YOU HAD TO POSSESS LEO— YOU HAD TO! AND NOW WHENEVER I THINK OF THE ATTACK ON CHB, I ALWAYS PICTURE A FEW DEAD (examples, Chris, Christopher), SMOULDERING CABINS, QUITE A FEW BEING TAKEN PRISONER WITH THEIR HANDS TIED BEHIND THEIR BACKS (examples, Clarisse and Travis), AND A FEW WHO ESCAPED INTO THE WOODS (examples, Connor and Katie). EVEN THOUGH THE TWIST WAS EXTREMILY UNEXPECTED AND AWESOME, YOU COULDN'T HAVE MADE THE ATTAK IN MOA, COULD YOU?**_

**UGH!**

**All better. Whew. I really needed to take that out.**

**Me (with friend): Blah blah blah blah- OH MY GOD! Is that Rick Riordan?  
****Friend: OMG IT IS! (We are on the same page with Riordan's books.)  
****Me: EEEEEE!  
****Friend: EEEEEE!  
****Both: EEEEEE!  
****Rick: You can't have my books.  
****Me: But you have the Kane Chronicles!  
****Rick: So?  
****Me: :(  
****Rick: :)  
****Friend: ? **

**That says all.**

**On with it! And may the gods ever be in your favour! (Poor Cato... It was easier not to feel sorry for him in the books.) **

* * *

**Percy**

Percy could usually classify his life—actions, thoughts, emotions—into two groups; good and bad.

Annabeth: Good!  
Kronos: Bad.  
Annabeth: Good!  
Gaea: Bad.  
Annabeth trying to kill him: As long as it's Annabeth.

But what he had just witnessed was an entirely different group on its own labeled "Awesome."

The Stolls reappeared next to the snack bar. They were obviously exhausted, but both had huge grins on their faces. Connor reached behind him to grab a plate of ambrosia some god had forgotten, but then that god returned and threatened to turn him into a pig- and then bacon. Connor didn't seem so enthusiastic about eating the ambrosia anymore.

"Come on," said Annabeth, grabbing Percy's hand. "Let's go congratulate them."

So the seven-io went over to the Stolls to congratulate them.

"Good job, guys," said Leo, sitting next to Travis. "That was amazing!"

"Yeah, really spectacular." Frank took advantage of being at the snack table and piled a couple cookies shaped as different symbols of power (lightning bolt, caduceus, trident, owl, spear, pac-man wheel, etc.) onto his plate.

Travis opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a loud flash and boom from the stage. Bacchus stood there in tattered jeans and a red shirt. "Helllloooo gods and goddesses!" he boomed, not needing a microphone at all. "Welcome to the Mount Olympus We-Defeated-Two-Brainless-Gits-in-a-Decade Party! Refreshments there, washrooms there, blah blah blah. Now, we have a real treat for you guys, coming up soon. In fact, we have quite a few! But for now, welcome our DJ of the night, Apollo!"

"'Was up?" Apollo asked as he waved to the crowd below him. A few girls screamed. A nymph fainted. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"And our mystery band will be joining us tonight at who-knows-when! All I'll say is that he'll knock your socks off." He winked. "Now, let's have some fun! DJ?"

"Got that!" yelled Apollo, and everything went into chaos.

Meaning: everyone went crazy.

* * *

**Travis**

"So what you're saying is, if you want to perform a song, you have to speak to Apollo."

"Correct."

"And you can do more than one song."

"That is what I said."

"So you want to do another song."

"Yes."

"With Drew."

"Well, she best fits the deal."

Travis smiled. "Count me in. Let us go find an Aphrodite girl."

* * *

**Drew**

Drew stood to the side with her two remaining friends. Ever since Piper took over her cabin, her life had been going downwards rapidly. People didn't want to talk to her anymore. Girls gossiped about her as she had always to about others. They ignored her- excluded her.

What goes around comes around, she thought miserably.

And then her day just had to get better.

"Excuse me a second," she told her friends as she walked over to where Travis and Connor Stoll her beckoning her. "What?" she demanded.

Connor told her his idea.

Drew nearly threw back her head and laughed. "You think I would seriously do what you're asking? Seriously?"

The Stolls nodded.

"Well, then," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "If that is all, then I must be going." She turned on her heels and walked away with her chin pointed slightly upwards.

_Those Stolls... What insanity... I would never—_

"There is more," said Travis, and Drew suddenly felt dread curl up in her stomach, thoughts disappearing on the spot.

"What is it, then?" asked Drew, looking over her shoulder.

The Stolls smiled mischievously. "Remember what happened..."

"...In April..."

"...Capture the flag..."

"...With you..."

"...And—"

"Shut up!" cried Drew desperately, and looking around to see if anyone had heard afterwards. The two identical brothers were still grinning at her. Drew knew she was a goner either way. Stolls tattled, or she performed. She closed her eyes and pressed the pads of her three middle fingers to her temples, thinking.

_Embarrassment or being hated even more than I already am hated. Embarrassment or being hated even more than I already am hated. Come on, Drew, think! You're half god! You have to decide—quick. _

"Fine," she decided. "I'll preform. But I don't know the lyrics, or the costume, or—"

Travis handed her a page of lyrics. Connor gave her some tinted glasses. "That'll do," he said. Then winked. "Don't forget. We'll call you." And the brothers left, leaving a flabbergasted Drew holding a pair of shades and a page of lyrics stuttering to reply.

* * *

**Has anyone noticed that MoA is narrated by the Greeks? So does that mean the House of Hades will be narrated by the Romans? **

**Mystery band... I wonder who that could be... Well, I know, and I know the songs they're singing. **

**What song are the Stolls' doing next? Why do they want Drew to sing with them? If they needed an Aphrodite girl, they could just ask Piper. No, Drew is special... But if you want to find out why, you have to continue reading.**

**Peace! I'm sorry if this is too short of a chapter for you, but it is over 1000 words. In fact, on my first edit, I added a few sentences that weren't there in the rough copy, like Drew's thoughts. **

**Next POV; Either Hazel's or Piper's. Maybe both.**


	7. Bringing Spanish Back

**Rick: (Crawls through bedroom window with axe in hand. Creeps up to the bed and swings—and misses. Girl wakes up clutching covers.)  
****Me: AAAHHH!  
****Rick: ADMIT IT! ADMIT YOU DON'T OWN THIS!  
****Me: NEVER!  
****Rick: (Swings axe again and this time presses it against throat.) SAY IT!  
****Me: No!  
****Rick: Fine! I can't hurt you... (Looks around room and sees my bookshelf. Grins evilly.)  
****Me: No! Not my books! Kill me instead!  
****Rick: (Puts down axe and picks up nearest book and starts to rip its pages.)  
****Me: NO! PUT IT DOWN! Please...  
****Rick: Muahahahaha!  
****Me: Fine, I don't own PJO or HoO! Now STOP! Please...  
****Rick: (Continues to rip pages.)  
****Me: What? NOOOOOOOOOO!**

**That being said, On with it! And may the gods ever be in your favour!**

* * *

**Hazel**

The party was great. So were the refreshments. Everything you could ever imagine and some.

So that was how she ended needing to go to the washroom.

It was the most amazing washroom Hazel had ever seen in her two lives. Domed roof, fancy chandeliers—even the Roman baths didn't exactly match this. (Even less ever since the Stolls' had crashed the place.)

As Hazel washed her hands, she heard a loud boom from outside and a couple screams. She smiled. Parties. Olympus parties. They were two different classifications all together.

Hazel thought about the songs nowadays. In the forties, the "rockin'" music of the year would be a trumpet. Nowadays they had entire workshops to create artificial instrument sounds and auto-tune so anyone could really become a pop star.

Hazel walked outside just in time to see some minor goddess run away from something with three heads.

She made her way over to where Piper and Annabeth were sitting. "Hey, have you seen Frank anywhere?"

"Frank, Leo and Jason are, of course, eating," answered Annabeth. "Percy is signing both of our names up for a song." She pointed to a crowded spot just up ahead.

"You're going to sing?" Hazel asked.

"That _is_ what I just said," Annabeth replied.

"Are you going to?" Hazel asked Piper this time. She shrugged.

"If I had someone to sing with," she replied.

Hazel suddenly had a light bulb moment. "Piper, want to perform a song with me?"

Piper looked confused. "Like, go up on stage and sing?"

"Yeah," said Hazel. "It'll be fun."

"Well, I don't know," she said with a sideways shrug. "I don't know the lyrics to many songs, so-"

"That's okay, we'll just do a song you do know," Hazel said. She clasped her hands together as if saying a prayer. "Please? For me?"

"Yeah, Piper, for Hazel," laughed Annabeth.

Piper gave a small smile. "Fine. As friends."

Hazel nodded. "Deal. What song?"

Piper thought for a moment. "How about We Are Never Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift?" Hazel told her that she didn't know that song. Piper looked a little disappointed by that.

"Do you know I'll Be Seeing You by Billy Holiday?" Piper slowly shook her head. Hazel gave her a flabbergasted look.

"Seriously?" asked Hazel. She started to sing the song. "_I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places. That this heart of mine embraces all day through. _You don't know that?"

Piper gave Hazel a quizzical look. "Is that a 40s song?"

Hazel sighed and hung her head. "Yeah."

Piper thought for a second and then snapped her fingers. "I know! What about-"

And she gave Hazel the title of her song.

Hazel thought for a moment. "Yeah, I know it- don't like the title, though, it isn't as fun as the artist makes it sound- but not word for word. If we could get a copy and memorize it for when we're called up, maybe..."

"We could do karaoke mode."

"We could."

"Can we do karaoke mode?"

"Not sure. Maybe we could just change the song, or—"

"I like the song you guys chose," said Annabeth. Hazel had almost forgotten she was there. "I don't think you should change it."

"Okay," said Piper. "Let's go sign our name up." And they skipped to where everyone was crowded around the sign-up sheet.

There were a few names already down. Hazel caught the names Leo, Jimmy and Jacob from the Nike cabin at CHB **(AN: first OCs! Only show up for one song, don't freak) **along with Diana's and Apollo's, Thalia's, Annabeth's twice, Percy's, and, for some reason, the Stolls' names with Drew's in there, but didn't have enough time to see what song they were each doing. People parted as they walked by. Apparently, nobody except those few had the guts to perform, but where just seeing who did. Some of those people were gods, so Hazel had the common sense to keep that to herself.

"Do the honors?" asked Piper.

"It is my honor," Hazel said with a smile as she took the pen and wrote both of their names down and beside them, the two words _Die Young._

* * *

**Leo**

He had no idea why he did it. Maybe it was too much cake he ate that influenced his brain. Maybe it was the fact that he missed his mom so much. Maybe it was the screaming satyr in underpants yelling "FREEDOM!" at the top of his lungs while he threw toilet paper at random gods.

Leo didn't know what lead him to performing on a stage. Option two made sense. Option one is possible, but not likely. Option three was too random to think about.

Many demigods were orphans (not including their godly parent). Hazel was. Frank was. Jason was. So he didn't really have the right to sulk every second of the day, he reasoned.

Yeah, but Leo actually _killed _his mum, he reasoned back.

Okay, no, he didn't, Gaea had, but if it weren't for the stupid prophecy she wouldn't have been after him in the first place.

So it was the stupid oracle who made the stupid prophecy's fault his mother was dead. Second in lead was him for being alive.

Besides, Jason never knew his mom, so how could he miss her? Hazel's mom died for the greater good, and they died together, being able to say good bye at least. Frank... There was an excuse for him in there somewhere. Leo wasn't sure where exactly, though.

His mom used to sing him to sleep when he was little in Spanish. His weariness and her beautiful voice would put him to rest for the remainder of the day in less than half a minute easy.

So option 2 made most sense, he decided.

Leo wasn't sure why he chose the song he did as well. Maybe because it was the best memorized Spanish song he knew. Besides, _Danza Kuduro _was pretty people had to know it, or at least recognize it.

Jimmy and Jacob both agreed pretty enthusiastically. That was good. Except for kids in the Athena cabin who knew _several _languages other than English, they were the only Spanish speakers at camp CHB he knew. Plus, they also knew the song, _Danza Kuduro. _And their mom was the goddess of victory. So there were a few reasons why Leo asked them.

Then Dionysus walked up onto the stage. and the music stopped and was replaced by a low beat. Dionysus waved the performing sign-up sheet, and Leo's breathing turned sharp.

"Hellllloooo, everyone!" said Dionysus. "I would ask you if you were having fun, but there is no point. Now, to get straight to the point, we have left a sign-up sheet for beings- whether human or not- to make a line to perform like those Steal kids did. Now, the first group or individual on the list is-" quick look "-Larry, Johnson and Johnny! No, Leo, Jimmy and Jacob. Good luck, whoever you are!"

Dionysus poofed off stage and suddenly everything froze. Leo had no idea what happened. Neither did Jimmy nor Jacob. They were the only people moving, except Apollo from the DJ. He was acting as if everything were normal. He jumped down from thirty feet in the air and landed on the ground with barely a sound. He beckoned for the three demigods to walk up to him.

"Hey, guys," he said, rubbing his hands together. "Now, what will happen is I'll get you put on these glasses on-" Apollo gave each of them some tinted shades. "I'm going to add some effects to the stage to make it seem awesomer. You chose_ Dancing Crazy, _didn't you?"

"No," they said at the same time. "_Danza Kuduro _doesn't translate to that."

"Great," said Apollo. "Now I owe Artemis five drachmas. I'll complain later. But these are the effects going up." He pulled out a small screen from nowhere with Product Hephaestus written in white on top. It looked just like an iPad when turned off, but when Apollo taped the password on the touchscreen, a holographic 3D version of the stage popped up. He pressed play, and all of a sudden lights on the 3D version started to move to the rhythm of the music.

"I have these kinds of things for virtually every song on the planet. Except a few Adele's. And I think one Taylor Swift," explained Apollo as the three Spanish boys watched in awe as three black figures emerged onto the virtual stage. Leo guessed those were supposed to be them or whoever else might choose that song.

"It gets lonely sometimes, riding the sun," he droned on, though now the boys weren't even paying any attention to him. "Of course, I don't ride it _every _day, but when you start one day, you can't get off until the next sunrise. So that's 24 hours in the sky, throwing peddles onto earth to see if one will land on someone's head and create a crater. Oh, man, I remember this one time..." He drone on while the boys watched intensely at the Hephaestus iPad.

The screen ended. They were met by silence. "Boys," said Apollo, "have you noticed that only two people sing _Danza Juduro?" _

_Shoot_, thought Leo. _"Kuduro," _he corrected.

"How about this," said Apollo. "Jimmy. You help me with the lights and stuff. I can teach you to handle everything when I get on stage, 'cause I will again eventually." He made some sort of half-smile, half-chuckle, half-laugh.

"Sure," said Jimmy. "After all, we are all somehow related. Somehow."

"Wait," interrupted Jacob. "What about them?" He pointed to the frozen people of the crowd.

"Don't worry, we're just trapped in the middle of time right now, 'kay?" explained Apollo as if explaining why people used cars instead of airplanes to go to work every day. "Perfectly safe contraption; Hephaestus made it. The thing is we don't want some giant thirty minute break between every performance to explain everything."

"We're trapped in time?" asked Leo. "Sweet!"

* * *

**Peace! Review! Please...?**


	8. Spanish's back

**YAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY! People reviewed! I'M DOING A HAPPY DANCE. TOTAL OF ELEVEN REVIEWS!**  
**(Two dots, like this : ) Also, to one of my awesome reviewers, ShadowandMadonna, THREE of the songs you listed I have in mind to use, so thank you for that! **

**Me: *Sob*  
****Friend: What's wrong?  
****Me: I only have ten reviews and, like, a thousand views. **

**Don't forget that. One of my best friends owns a real sword I can borrow and use against you.**

**Me: *Sob*  
****Friend: Why are you crying?  
****Me: I don't own PJO or HoO.**

**Remember that, guys! Me own almost nothing!**

**Me: *Sob*  
****Friend: This is getting annoying. (walks away.)  
****Me: (Stops crying, sneaks into room and steals lollipop from her secret lollipop stash under bed.) Sucker.**

**PS. Okay, guys, I totally just made a huge mistake. Danza Kuduro is only sung by two guys, not three. (Hey, it was Luzendo, _El Rey_ and Don Omar. How was I supposed to know Don Omar and _El Rey_ are the same person?) So what I am going to do is have Jacob sing with Leo, and Jimmy is going to help Apollo with the extras. Please don't bother me about it. I know my mistake, don't fret. I already changed last chapter for people who read the original.**

**On with it! And May the gods ever be in your favour!**

* * *

**Percy**

It was strange. Percy had seen Leo with his own two eyes sign up to perform. He should have been proud of himself; it took guts to do that. But instead, Leo was miserable. It's not like going up to all the supernatural beings in the world and having the risk of making yourself look like a total fool.

Oh, gods, Percy was starting to regret his decision of signing him and Annabeth up for a song.

While he was debating whether or not to go back and scratch their names off with some sort of magic inerasable pencil, Dionysus walked up onto the stage, saying something about songs and performing.

Crud.

Of course, Percy thought of something worse than just plain old, "Crud," but it was just so dirty and colourful that if we had written it down, Bookworm1756 would probably be banned from the site for not rating the story M+ . But Dionysus called Leo, Jimmy and Jacob up instead. Percy breathed out deeply. That was close.

What happened next wasn't that expected. The lights went all dark all of a sudden like when the Stoll brothers had performed, and the starting beat of a song started to play. Percy recognized it as _Danza Kuduro, _a Spanish song. They flashed once and all pointed at the stage, where shades-wearing Leo had run out with one of his arms outstretched somewhere in between the sky and the ground and his other bent at the elbow and pointing in the same direction. **(AN: I don't know how you say that! *Bites nail nervously* Don't hate me!)** He made a quick sprint to the front of the stage. Jacob was right behind him.

_"El Orfanato!" _Jacob yelled.

_"Danza Kuduro!" _called Leo. Then, for every following word, he pumped a fist into the air. _"Plop plop plop plop plop_ _plop plop_!" **(AN: sounds wrong written down, I know, but if you watch or listen to the actual song, it sounds better.)**

_"Leo!..." _started Jacob. Percy noticed that he had stolen a quick glance at the DJ, where Apollo and for some reason Jimmy, Jacob's twin brother, were sitting. Percy decided to ponder about it later.

"_El Rey…!" _finished Leo.

_"Las manos arriba, cintura sola,_  
_Da media vuelta, danza kuduro!" _they sang in unison. The lights swerved and changed colours onto the crowd. Next to him, Annabeth cheered. Of course, _she _knew what they were saying. Wisdom. Pfft. Who needed it? Percy had a gut feeling that he had thought of that just to make himself feel better.

_"No te canses ahora, que esto solo empieza,_  
_Mueve la cabeza, danza kuduro!"_

_"Las manos arriba, cintura sola,_  
_Da media vuelta, danza kuduro!_  
_No te canses ahora, que esto solo empieza,_  
_Mueve la cabeza, danza kuduro!" _the two boys repeated.

_"Quien Puede Domar La Fuerza Del Mal Que Se Mete Por Tus Venas?_  
_Lo Caliente Del Sol Que Se Te Metió Y No Te Deja Quieta, Nena,_  
_Quien Puede Parar Eso Que Al Bailar Descontrola Tus Caderas—" _sang Jacob, but was cut short.

_"Sexy…!" _interupted Leo as a yell. If that hadn't been enough, he winked at Piper in the crowd at the same time in a flirtatios way. Well, that created an uproar. Percy stole a quick look at Jason and Piper. Piper's cheeks were slightly red, and Jason was laughing along with everyone else. That was a relief. Percy didn't need two bickering friends at the moment. Jason had caught that Leo had just been teasing. Everyone else probably had as well.

"_Y Ese Fuego Que Quema Por Dentro Y Lento, Te Convierte En Fiera!" _finished Jacob with a smile.

_"Con La Mano Arriba,_  
_Cintura Sola,_  
_Da Media Vuelta,_  
_Sacude Duro!_  
_No Te Quites Ahora,_  
_Que Esto Sólo Empieza,_  
_Mueve La Cabeza,_  
_Sacude Duro!" _he continued with a little backup help from Leo.

_"Balança que é uma loucura,_  
_Morena vem a meu lado,_  
_Ninguém vai ficar parado,_  
_Quero ver mexe kuduro._  
_Balançar que é uma loucura,_  
_Morena vem a meu lado,_  
_Ninguém vai ficar parado, oh oh oh-" _This time they switched positions. Leo was singing lead, while Jacob helped him from behind.

"-_Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi…_  
_Vem para quebrar kuduro, vamos dançar kuduro," _they both sang as equals.

_"Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi…_  
_Seja morena ou loira, vem balançar kuduro,_  
_Oi, oi, oi."_

_"Las manos arriba, cintura sola,_  
_Da media vuelta, danza kuduro!_  
_No te canses ahora, que esto solo empieza,_  
_Mueve la cabeza, danza kuduro!_

_"Las manos arriba, cintura sola,_  
_Da media vuelta, danza kuduro!_  
_No te canses ahora, que esto solo empieza,_  
_Mueve la cabeza, danza kuduro!"_

"_Balançar què uma loucura,_  
_Morena vem o meu lado,_  
_Ninguem vai ficar parado,_  
_Quero ver Mexa kuduro._  
_Balançar què uma loucura,_  
_Morena vem o meu lado,_  
_Ninguem vai ficar parado, oh oh oh—" _sang Leo. The crowd was crazy by then.

_"Oi oi oi, oi oi oi_  
_E para quebrar kuduro, vamos dançar kuduro!_  
_Oi oi oi, oi oi oi_  
_Seja morena o loira, vem balançar kuduro,_  
_Oi oi oi."_

_"El Orfanatooooooo!"_ Jacob literally yelled. Luckily, the magic microphone kept his voice at the noise level it should have been... or else a few ears might have shattered...

_"Las manos arriba, cintura sola,_  
_Da media vuelta, danza kuduro!_  
_No te canses ahora, que esto solo empieza,_  
_Mueve la cabeza, danza kuduro! _

_"Las manos arriba, cintura sola,_  
_Da media vuelta, danza kuduro!_  
_No te canses ahora, que esto solo empieza,_  
_Mueve la cabeza, danza kuduro_

"_A&X!" _yelled Leo. He pumped his fist, and while it went dark, it also went crazy.

* * *

**I know this wasn't exactly like the first one. I have a long list of songs, and extra activities, so I can't go into every detail with every song. Later on, we'll be having three performances in one chapter. Also, Leo wasn't the narrater of this story; Percy was. So couldn't exactly write down Leo's thoughts.**

**And sorry if you don't know spanish and had no idea what that song was all about and this was just a waste of a chapter. Songs get better. Promise.**


	9. Family Spats, and PERCABETH!

**_NeonHedgehog:_ Sweet! If I ask you to turn neon purple, would you? (Now I have that crazy mental image stuck in my head.) If you are, go on Google Images and find a picture of one and make it your profile picture. Also, Madagascar? The cartoon movie? (The third was the best. It had me laughing out loud.)**

**Thx for reviewing! Even to the guy who reviewed just to make me happy. You all get a virtual batch of cookies! **

**Me: (Walks into Texas.) Ah, such a beautiful state.  
****Rick: (Standing nearby with a notepad in hand, threatening to kill Percabeth if I don't leave.)  
****Me: (Gasp) NO! I'll leave, just don't do it! (Runs away screaming.)**

**Remember! Me no own most characters!**

**On with it! And may the gods ever be in your favour!**

* * *

**Artemis**

If Artemis wanted to be humiliated, she would have dunked her head in a toilet. She would intentionally miss a doe while hunting. She would date a boy. But of course, Apollo just had to do something even worse. He made her sing with him.

And he didn't even give her a heads up, like, "hey, I just signed us up to sing in front of all of Olympus. Cheers!"

It was only after that Leo boy and his friend Jacob-or-something-like-that had finished their performance that Artemis realized that she was going to have to kill Apollo. Somehow. She decided that she wouldn't use her own arrows, or any of her Hunter's for that matter. No, Apollo deserved something much worse than a painless and quick death. For once, Artemis wanted to see her prey suffer- and humiliated.

Artemis decided to ask her half-brother Hermes for tips on how to do that later. But for now, she was just going to have to do with cussing at Apollo.

So when he called her name, she did just that. She was about to tell him that there was no way she would sing with him, but people ignored her and pushed her to the front where the stage was hovering only two or three above the ground.

That day she was in her fourteen-year-old girl aspect. With the exception of her nine-year-old one, this appearance was her favourite. But now, it was beet red and had fingers making very rude gestures. Apollo extended a hand to help her get up on the stage. She leveled herself on without acknowledging his hand. The stage flew upward.

"My sister, Art—" said Apollo into the microphone, except Artemis interupted by decking him in the jaw.

"Ow!" he protested, rubbing the spot where he had been hit. Artemis rolled her eyes. "Why so rude?"

Artemis told him a few reasons that we had to censor out because of extreme swearing, cursing, and gestures that would give people nightmares.

Apollo shook his head sadly. "So rude for fourteen years of age," he said. "But that's what you get for being younger, I guess."

Artemis could feel her face growing red with anger. "We are twins, for the LAST—FREAKING—TIME!" she yelled loud enough for everyone to hear. "What part of TWINS don't you understand?"

Apollo raised his arms in surrender. "Geez, sorry. Anyway, the song we're singing is one you know. Here." He placed a microphone into her hand, and she just stared at him, dumbstruck. "Sorry, about that, folks!" he called to the crowd. "Just a little family spat."

* * *

**Annabeth**

"No kidding," Annabeth whispered to Percy. He nodded in agreement.

* * *

**Artemis**

"A _little _family spat?" demanded Artemis, but the lights had dimmed with tune of the new sounding music, so she couldn't create a comeback. But, for once in three thousand millenia, Apollo was right about something. She did know the song playing, and even had it memorized, it being her favourite song of the time. She missed the first female line thinking of this. _"Woah-oh-oh-oh_," she sang into the microphone unsteadily. She was surprised to find her voice sounded amazing. Of course, she could make it sound amazing without the magic microphone- she was a goddess after all.

_"It's always a good time," _Apollo replied.

"_Woah-oh-oh-oh,"_ repeated Artemis with an unreadable expression written across her face.

_"It's always a good time," _sang Apollo, smiling at her, tryig to get her to smile back. No luck there. The music continued to blare from the unseeable speakers.

_"Woke up on the right side of the bed,_  
_What's up with this Prince song inside my head?" _continued Apollo.  
_"Hands up if you're down to get down tonight—" _

Artemis missed her line. She didn't care.

"_Cuz it's always a good time," _finished Apollo, looking a little annoyed but keeping his voice at the same enthousiasm.

_"Slept in all my clothes like I didn't care,_  
_Hopped into a cab, take me anywhere,_  
_I'm in if you're down to get down tonight,_  
_Cuz it's always a good time."_

The music continued, but Artemis didn't sing. Why should she? Apollo waved his hand at Jacob's twin brother Jimmy controling the effects. He wasn't as good as Apollo, but did a pretty good job nonetheless, Artemis noticed. She couldn't help but wonder how long of a time-stop Apollo had to create to teach him everything. Jimmy stopped the music and played a low beat instead. Apollo glared at Artemis menacingly.

"Come on, Arty," he said. "Don't turn this into a disaster."

"It already is," she replied without a hint of any expression.

"It's called having fun. You should try it sometime," he said, then pointed at the crowd. "They all are. Why can't you? Amuse them. Maybe then they'll find it easier to like you."

"No," said Artemis, crossing her arms.

"It'll be good publicity for the Hunter's." Apollo nudged her lightly.

Artemis looked at the crowd who were clinging onto every word they argued on. She scanned the top of people's heads until she came across her Hunters, all in one group to the side. Her eyes locked with Thalia's, who gave Artemis a small nod.

_"_I must be insane," she told herself, shaking her head and holding it her free hand. "Fine," she said, looking back at Apollo. "I'll sing."

Everyone cheered.

"Yes!" cried Apollo, pumping his fist in the air with triumph. Then he pointed at Jimmy. "Let's do this one more time!"

Jimmy made the lights dim, and then played the music again. _"Hmmmm," _hummed Artemis into the microphone. "_Whoa-oh-oh-oh-"_

"_It's always a good time," _sang Apollo.

_"Whoa-oh-oh-oh—"_

_"It's always a good time."_

The stage floor elevated upwards though the stage itself stayed put. Pictures of the moon and sun were changing colours under their feet. And to add to the spectacle, someone changed the light colours so only silver and gold was spread across the crowd- and the two gods themselves.

_"Woke up on the right side of the bed,_  
_What's up with this Prince song inside my head?" _continued Apollo, the lights turning only to gold.  
_"Hands up if you're down to get down tonight—"_

"_Hmmm,"_ hummed Artemis. The Hunters in the crowd cheered for her, as most of the crowd did. The lights switched to silver, then back to gold as Apollo continued.

_"'Cuz it's always a good time,"_ finished Apollo, looking a little proud Artemis decided to continue and not ignore the short line.

_"Slept in all my clothes like I didn't care,_  
_Hopped into a cab, take me anywhere,_  
_I'm in if you're down to get down tonight,_  
_Cuz it's always a good time."_

"_Good morning and good night," _sang Artemis, stepping to the front of the stage as a silver light hit her directly in the face. The crowd let out a colective breath of air they had been holding in fear of Artemis deciding not to sing again. _"I wake up at twilight."_

_"It's gonna be alright," _the twins sang together.

_"We don't even have to try,_  
_It's always a good time," _continued Apollo while Artemis gave a short, "Whoo!" while extending her arm upward.

_"Woah-oh-oh-oh,  
Woah-oh-oh-oh,_  
_It's always a good time," _they sang in unison, the lights turning multicolour.

_"Woah-oh-oh-oh,  
Woah-oh-oh-oh,_  
_We don't even have to try, it's always a good time."_

"_Good time, good time," _they sang. "_It's always a good time,"_ added Apollo.

_"Whoa-oh-oh-oh...  
Freaked out, dropped my phone in the pool again," _sang Artemis. She gave into a small smile. She now sort of understood why Apollo loved being the god of music. It was fun. She was going to have to reconsider her visit with Hermes.

_"Checked out of my room hit the ATM,_  
_Let's hang out if you're down to get down tonight,_  
_Cuz it's always a good time."_

_"Good morning and good night," _sang Apollo.

_"I wake up at twilight," _chanted Artemis.

"_It's gonna be alright," _they dueted.

_"We don't even have to try,_  
_It's always a good time."_

"_Whoo!"_

_"Woah-oh-oh-oh,  
Woah-oh-oh-oh,_  
_It's always a good time._  
_Woah-oh-oh-oh,  
Woah-oh-oh-oh,_  
_We don't even have to try, it's always a good time."_

_"Woah-oh-oh-oh,  
Woah-oh-oh-oh,_  
_It's always a good time._  
_Woah-oh-oh-oh,  
Woah-oh-oh-oh,_  
_We don't even have to try, it's always a good time."_

_"Doesn't matter when,_  
_It's always a good time then," _sang Apollo, taking a step toward the front.

_"Doesn't matter where,_  
_It's always a good time there," _echoed Artemis, going to stand next to her twin.

_"Doesn't matter when,_  
_It's always a good time then..."_

_"It's always a good time!" _shouted the crowd, and Jimmy created twin bursts of gold and silver sparks to fly off the sides of the stage.

_"Woah-oh-oh-oh,  
Woah-oh-oh-oh,_  
_It's always a good time._  
_Woah-oh-oh-oh,  
Woah-oh-oh-oh,_  
_We don't even have to try, it's always a good time."_

_"Woah-oh-oh-oh,  
Woah-oh-oh-oh,_  
_It's always a good time._  
_Woah-oh-oh-oh,  
Woah-oh-oh-oh,_  
_We don't even have to try, it's always a good time." _

_"Whoa-oh-oh-oh,_  
_Woah- oh-oh-oh,_  
_It's always a good time._  
_Woah-oh-oh-oh_  
_Woah-oh-oh-oh..."_ chanted the crowd, then burst into cheers and applause.

Apollo slipped his hand into Artemis', and before she knew what was happening, he had raised both over their heads as two more identical sparks of the colours gold and silver sparked, this time, behind them. They stayed like that for five seconds, just soaking in the applause. Then Apollo lowered their arms.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked loud enough for everyone in the crowd to hear.

Then Artemis laughed, which surprised everyone. But was surprised people even more was when she leaned forward and kissed Apollo on the cheek.

* * *

**Annabeth**

Annabeth was bursting with excitement. Even when she was little, she loved to sing. Now, with her busy social, love and demigod life, the only time to sing was in the shower; and even those only lasted two minutes.

Now, she was going to be able to prove to everyone that she did sing, and was pretty good at it. Doing it with Percy was a bonus.

They had thought of the song, and decided on one that made the most sense and that they both knew nearly by heart.

So when they were called and were time-stopped and set up on the stage, they knew what to do. Mostly.

Percy was shaking a little as they stood on the stage, microphone in hand. Annabeth laid an arm on his shoulder and he looked her way. She gave him a reassuring smile and swept some hair away from his face.

"Don't worry," she said. "It'll be fun."

Percy looked as if he were about to lose the million sweets he had just eaten by the snack table. Annabeth hugged him. "There, there," she tried, rubbing his back. "It's just like going on a super scary roller coaster. In the lineup you're nervous, when you just get on it's scary, but during the actual ride it becomes fun, and then you're bragging about it afterwards.

Percy nodded and they pulled apart.

"Three seconds!" yelled Jimmy, Apollo's DJ-in-training, holding up three fingers. He slowly counted down, dimming the lights to complete darkness.

Annabeth slipped her hand into Percy's and squeezed his fingers lightly. As much as he may think she wasn't, she was a bit nervous as well.

Then she heard people moving from in front. But it slowly stopped as the music played. It seemed to take forever. Why did they have to choose a song with such a long introduction?

Finally, she heard Percy sing, _"Ohoh, ah! Ohoh, ah!"_ And the lights returned._ "What time is it where you are?" _

_"I miss you more than anything,"_ chanted Annabeth.

_"Back at home you feel so far..."_

_"Waitin' for the phone to ring!_" sang Annabeth, pulling her free hand through her blonde hair with her eyes closed.

_"It's gettin' lonely livin' upside down,_  
_I don't even wanna be in this town!" _they sang.

_"Tryin' to figure out the time zones makin' me crazy!"_ Only Percy this time.

_"You say good morning,_  
_When it's midnight,_  
_Going out of my head,_  
_Alone in this bed,_  
_I wake up, to your sunset,_  
_And it's driving me mad,_  
_I miss you so bad!_  
_And my, heart, heart, heart is so jetlagged!_  
_Heart, heart, heart is so jetlagged!_  
_Heart, heart, heart is so jetlagged!" _

_"So jetlagged..." _droned off Percy. A thousand fan-girls somehow found their way into Olympus and screamed for Percy, shouting things like "We love you!" and "Marry me, Percy!" and "Stop dating that b**** Annabeth! Date me instead!"

Annabeth found that last one a little insulting. Zeus sighed and snapped his fingers, and all the fan-girls disappeared. They didn't even pause the song.

_"What time is it where you are?" _sang Annabeth as if her feelings hadn't been hurt.

_"Five more days and I'll be home..."_

_"I keep your picture in my car..."_

_"I hate the thought of you alone."_

_"I've been keepin' busy all the time,_  
_Just to try to keep you off my mind!"_

_"Tryin' to figure out the time zones makin' me crazy!"_ they dueted. Sparks of the colours blue and white, gold and brown **(AN: what I found were Athena's colours. I'm using common sense to say that Poseidon's is blue) **shot behind them and on the sides of the stage and entire place, and two elevations rose from where Percy was standing and where Annabeth was. They both had a star which changed colours with the lighting.

_"You say good morning,_  
_When it's midnight,_  
_Going out of my head,_  
_Alone in this bed,_  
_I wake up, to your sunset,_  
_And it's drivin' me mad!_  
_I miss you so bad!_  
_And my heart, heart, heart is so jetlagged!_  
_Heart, heart, heart is so jetlagged!_  
_Heart, heart, heart is so jetlagged!" _sang Percy.

_"Is so jet lagged!" _he shouted as the elevations they were both standing on rose to different heights.

_"I miss you so bad," _he said.

_"I miss you so bad," _Annabeth echoed.

_"I miss you so bad," _Percy repeated.

_"I miss you so bad," _continued Annabeth.

_"I miss you so bad..."_

_"I wanna share your horizon,"_ sang Annabeth.

_"I miss you so bad..." _

_"And see the same sun rising..." _they dueted. The two elevations rose to the same height.

_"I miss you so bad..." _sang Annabeth _"And turn the hour hand back to when you were holding me!"_

_"You say good morning,_  
_When it's midnight,_  
_Going out of my head,_  
_Alone in this bed,_  
_I wake up, to your sunset,_  
_And it's drivin' me mad,_  
_I miss when you say good morning,_  
_But it's midnight,_  
_Going out of my head,_  
_Alone in this bed,_  
_I wake up, to your sunset,_  
_And it's drivin' me mad,_  
_I miss you so bad!_  
_And my heart, heart, heart is so jetlagged!_  
_Heart, heart, heart is so jetlagged!_  
_Heart, heart, heart is so jetlagged!_  
_Is so jetlagged." _They sang in unison, Annabeth singing around fifty million octaves higher than Percy.

_"Is so jetlagged," _finished Percy, jumping onto Annabeth's podium and kissing her. She was only slightly aware of the fireworks shaped as hearts behind him and Annabeth, the screaming crowd, and the fact that they were kissing in front of all of Olympus.

* * *

**Drew**

She knew she was next. She didn't want to be next. But she knew she had too.

Drew had memorized what the Stolls' had given her. She'd even put on the ridiculous outfit they had handed to her later on. She was currently hiding in a bathroom stall with her legs pulled up to her chest. She heard Percy and Annabeth finish their love song, and then a tremendous uproar. Only the fraction of Drew that wasn't nervous wondered what that meant.

Now all she could do was wait... wait for Annabeth and Percy to leave the stage and for Dionysus to call her name along with the Stolls'.

And then he did.

* * *

**Cliffhanger... Muahahahaha!**

**Peace! Bookworm, signing out for two days! And don't forget reviews!**

**PS,  
Artemis: Carly Rae Jepson  
Apollo: Owl City  
Percy: Simple Plan  
Annabeth: Natasha Bedingfield**

**PPS, But don't you think Jet Lag is such a good song for Percabeth? It's exactly what happened in TLH and SON. Being separated. **


	10. Korean Dancing

**Finally! Drew's big act!**

**And I apologize in advance for the inconvenience of the following; I know Drew is a girl. I know this artist is a guy. I tried to change the genders in the song, but I couldn't. Google translate wasn't feeling cooperative. **

**On with it! And may the gods ever be in your favour!**

* * *

**Drew**

Drew secured herself onto the hoop that would fly her down to the stage in a few moments. She didn't want to fall off during the song and break her neck.

Or maybe she did. It wouldn't least save her from this humiliation.

She glanced over at her tormentors. They were standing at the edge of the stage, around twenty feet below her. They were chatting casually. Drew wanted to hit them with something. They were acting as if this were no big deal. How could they? This was her reputation and future and the way people saw her from now on they were talking about here! Couldn't they be a little more pitiful?

Of course they couldn't, she told herself, gritting her perfectly white and straight teeth. They're the Stolls. 'Pitiful' is not in their vocabulary, unless they had been caught pranking someone and were trying to play "Oh, poor me" to get out of trouble.

Drew had to remind herself to not team up with the Hermes cabin again in capture the flag. Not that she had ever played anyway...

The Stolls wandered off in their opposite directions of the stage. They were smirking at each other— Smirking! She would have to slap them afterwards for this. They had given her two inch high heels (only two inch? Drew had learned to wear four inch when she was eight) and a short, pink, sparkly dress that sort of looked nice. Drew argued that if she had the right materials, she could fashion it up a little more, but the Stolls had said there was no time. Along with that, they had given her a blue jeweled necklace that made Drew nearly faint. _That _was pretty. Too bad the Stolls wanted it back.

"On in five!" counted down Jimmy from the controls. Drew was startled to hear his booming voice, and nearly fell backwards. How much time had passed since she had gotten up there? Only a few minutes at the most... maybe three or two...

"Three!"

Drew closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Then she opened her eyes and put on her best I'm-so-popular-and hot-so-bow-down-before-me face she had perfected a few years back.

"One!"

The lights went black. In the previous songs, usually they only dimmed, but this... this was a shade of black only Hades and Zeus knows where it came from. For a second, Drew was frightened. Nothing was happening. Had they forgotten? How would she get down from where she was sitting in the darkness? Was this a set-up? All these things hurried through her mind as she panicked.

The low, familiar beat _everyone _knew came on the speakers. And when I say _everyone, _I mean _everyone on this entire - freaking - planet. _

And then Drew sang the first line, and if you thought you knew what 110%, full-on, crazier than crazy crazy was, you probably knew about 0.0002% of the type of crazy went on in Olympus. It was nothing compared to how insane it was when Artemis and Apollo sang, or when Percy and Annabeth kissed, or even when Hecate turned Lou Ellen- her own daughter- into a guinea pig for calling her Mom. (She turned her back afterwards.) Everyone cheered so loudly, Drew's second line was practically inaudible.

Drew let out a small breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. All was going according to plan. She put on her perfect-oh-perfect-me face again.

The lights came back on, in the colours pink, green and blue. Drew was slowly lowered while sitting on her hoop with one leg crossed over the other. She adjusted her headset microphone. Her hoop had revolved halfway, revealing her face just as she said her third line.

_"Najeneun ttasaroun inganjeogin yeoja,_  
_Keopi hanjanui yeoyureul aneun pumgyeok inneun yeoja._  
_Bami omyeon simjangi tteugeowojineun yeoja,_  
_Geureon banjeon inneun yeoja."_

She finished her lines just as the hoop reached the bottom of the stage. The Stolls', who had been waiting patiently at the edge of the stage for her too finish, wore blank expressions as they each extended their inside arm out to help Drew up after walking over to her. She smiled, tapped her chin, and acted as if deciding which arm she should choose as she sang;

_"Naneun sanai_  
_Najeneun neomankeum ttasaroun geureon sanai,_  
_Keopi sikgido jeone wonsyat ttaerineun sanai._  
_Bami omyeon simjangi teojyeobeorineun sanai,_  
_Geureon sanai!"_

Finally, she chose both their arms and uncrossed her legs with a flourish. The Stolls' linked their arms with hers- ugh, she would have to decontaminate them both after this (the arms, not the Stolls)—and walked to the front of the stage, where only a foot away from the edge, they broke off and walked their opposite directions. Jimmy turned the lights off them so they would have time to get where they needed to without being seen.

_"Beautiful, yes, love-able, _  
_Yes you-"_ she sang, pointing one delicate finger at someone random in the audience as everyone else shouted, "_Hey_!" She spun on the spot and pointed to someone standing in the opposite direction.

_"Yes you—"_

_"Hey!"_

_"Beautiful, yet, love-able_," she sang, pulling a hand through her perfect hair.  
_"Yes you—"_

_"Hey!" _

_"Yes you—" _

_"Hey!"_

_"Now let's go until the end-end-end-end!"_ Drew placed one hand on her hip and the other one she pumped sideways in the air for every "end". She stomped her left foot and waited for the precise moment...

_"Oppa Gangnam Style!"_

Drew had been practicing move ever since the Stolls' had blackmailed her. During the time-stop, Apollo had showed her how to perfect it. They had even invited the actual PSY during those few minutes to come up there and teach Drew. (They mind-wiped that out of his memory afterwards.) So she could do it very well; even with the two inch high heels she was wearing.

The lights shone on the Hephaestus Podium, where the Stolls' were now doing the exact same dance move, wearing their PSY tuxes and dark sunglasses.

_"Gangnam Style!  
Op op op op—_  
_Oppa Gangnam Style!"_

Drew could feel the light shining on her face, the cheering people below, and Piper, sweet, dear, Piper, standing next to her boyfriend Jason, dumbfounded. Drew gave her a smirk.

_"Gangnam Style!  
Op op op op—_  
_Oppa Gangnam Style!"_

_"Hey... Sexy Lady!"_ sang the Stolls in unison from up on the H Podiums.

"_Op op op op—_  
_Oppa Gangnam Style!" _finished Drew.

"_Hey... Sexy Lady!" _

_"Op op op op—"_

_"Eh eh eh eh eh eh eh!"_ all three of them sang at once, pumping their right arms thrice and flourishing them down to the left hip.

The Stolls walked down to the stage and to Drew's side. She placed a hand on each of their shoulders one at a time and pushed them away together, them stumbling to the side on purpose. Drew walked around to one side while the Stolls' regained their balance. (She had pushed them harder than they had agreed on- maybe a fraction of her future revenge.)

All this, while...

_"Jeongsukhae boijiman nol ttaen noneun yeoja,_  
_Ittaeda sipeumyeon mukkeotdeon meori puneun yeoja._  
_Garyeotjiman wenmanhan nochulboda yahan yeoja,_  
_Geureon gamgakjeogin yeoja!" _

Now she was in the middle of the stage with her back to the audience, the Stolls' with their backs to the audience, standing a little farther back than her. Three totems—one where each was standing—started to rise, Drew's the highest.

_"Naneun sanai,_  
_Jeomjanha boijiman nol ttaen noneun sanai._  
_Ttaega doemyeon wanjeon michyeobeorineun sanai,_  
_Geunyukboda sasangi ultungbultunghan sanai._  
_Geureon sanai!"_

_"Beautiful, yes, love-able!"_ Drew sang turning to face the front. A strand of her perfect black hair slipped in front of her eyes, obscuring her vision. She flipped it over her shoulder and away.

_"Yes you—"_

_"Hey!"_ Sparks of red, pink and white flew out from behind Drew.

_"Yes you—"_

_"Hey!"_ More sparks.

_"Beautiful, yet, love-able!_  
_Yes you—"_

_"Hey!"_

_"Yes you—"_

_"Hey!"_

_"Now let's go until the end-end-end-end..." _

_..._

_"Oppa Gangnam Style!" _sang Drew. The podiums the three of them were standing on started to change heights with the beat of the music. It got a little nauseous after a while if you danced the signature dance move on it , but Drew had gotten used to it.

_"Gangnam Style!  
Op op op op—_  
_Oppa Gangnam Style!"_

_..._

_"Gangnam Style!  
Op op op op—_  
_Oppa Gangnam Style!"_

_"Hey- Sexy Lady!"_ sang the Stoll brothers.

_"Op op op op—_  
_Oppa Gangnam Style!"_ finished Drew.

_"Hey- Sexy Lady!"_

_"Op op op op—"_

_"Eh eh eh eh eh eh eh!" _all together they sang, pumping their fists into the air in unison, they're podiums at the same height.

_"Ttwineun nom geu wie naneun nom—"_

_"Baby, baby," _sand the Stolls from behind her following her immediatey.

_"Naneun mwol jom aneun nom,  
Ttwineun nom geu wie naneun nom—"_

_"Baby, baby—"_

_"Naneun mwol jom aneun nom!  
__You know what I'm saying!" _sang Drew, stomping her feet onto the ground one at a time on the words _you _and _what, _and slashing her arms to the side as if karate chopping something on either side of her on the last syllable of _saying._

_"Oppa Gangnam style!"_

_"Eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh— Eh!" _Drew gestured at her neck with arms pointed up but palms looking down, slashing them close to her neck everytime she chanted (except the last one).

_"Sexy Lady!" _sang the Stolls.

_"Op op op op—"_

_"Oppa Gangnam style!" _This time the Stoll brothers sang. _"Eh- Sexy Lady!"_

_"Op op op op—"_

_"Eh eh eh eh eh eh—" _Three chanted as one.

"_Oppa Gangnam Style!" _yelled Drew, throwing her arms up in the air at the same time, just as the Stolls knelt in opposite directions. The crowd cheered very loudly, loving the performance.

But that didn't change Drew's opinion of the Stolls.

* * *

**Remember! Remember! Drew is Asian! It said so in The Lost Hero!**

**o_o**

**I could have chosen Frank, for he is a boy. PSY is a boy. It's easier. Don't bother me about it. This way created such more tension, plus, I hadn't thought of using Frank until writing this sentance.**

**...**

**Now I feel stupid. **

**I know PSY is talking about a girl he likes in the song. I checked. But as I said, Google Translate only goes some measures to help people like me out. The best I could do was switch languages so people still knew what the song was.**

**Peace! Review and cheers in yours and demigodishness!**


	11. La la la la la, and Dying Young

**Rick and Me: (Walking to Italy and peers down where Annabeth and Percy fell down to Tartarus)  
****Me: So... This is the place.  
****Rick: Yeah.  
****Me: The place where you FREAKING KILLED PERCABETH!  
****Rick: Yeah.  
****Me: *pouty face* And you take me here of all places to make up for stalking me for two weeks and trying to murder me in my sleep and then killing all my books?  
****Rick: Yeah.  
****Me: Cool! And when are they coming back?  
****Rick: Who?  
****Me: Percy and Annabeth. Duh!  
****Rick:... NEVER! MUAHAHAHAHA!  
****Me: o_ô Fine. Then _I'll_ make them come back. Can I own your series?  
****Rick: o_ô Seriously?  
****Me: Well, yeah! If you don't have any ideas, then maybe you could sell HoO and PJO to me, and-  
****Rick: (Yawns and pushes me into Tartarus to join Percabeth. Walks away.)**

**AND THAT IS WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER TRUST RICK TO ACTUALLY HURRY UP HIS BOOK-MAKING PROCESS! AND WHY I DON'T OWN PJO OR HOO!**

**(I thought the reason he took so long with MoA was because of The Serpents Shadow. Except still fall we have to wait?) **

**Oh, and jason8926, I never said anyone who was Korean was like Drew. I said I just chose her because _she _was Korean, not that Koreans are like Drew. Get it? The world dosen't revolve around Aphrodite kids, and neither does anyone else. And I'm sorry if I insulted you in any way. To make it up, this chapter is dedicated to you! Two songs, whoo! **

**On with it! And may the gods ever ****be in your favour! **

* * *

_**(AN: This performance of Thalia and Annabeth is going to be short. Just saying. I'm trying to get Piper and Hazel's act in the chapter as well, and I don't want two über-long songs in two über-long chaters; I want to get to my surprises soon!)**_

**Thalia**

Unlike pretty much everyone else who had perfromed so far, Thalia wasn't nervous like she should have been. Learning to reject boys also taught her how to reject other things; like insults or failures or mean comments.

Annabeth was pretty calm as well, though it probably was because she had already performed with Percy, so she knew what it was like.

The song they were about to sing wasn't really popular. Well, it used to be; it was an old song. Annabeth wanted to sing "Heaven" by DJ Sammy or something crazy like that, but Thalia refused; she - didn't - date. They both knew the following song; Thalia because she had heard it from some of the really old Hunters, and Annabeth because her step-mother listened to it quite a lot. And it was a cool song.

Intro lights, flashes of boom, creepy chime into music, and crazy crowd. Got that.

_"The kisses of the sun,_  
_Were sweet,_  
_I didn't blink._  
_I let it in my eyes, _  
_Like an exotic dream. _  
_The radio playing songs,_  
_That I have never heard. _  
_I don't know what to say, _  
_Oh, not another word,"_ Thalia sang in an almost dreamy voice, feeling really proud of herself for doing this.

_"Just la la la la la!"_ Annabeth and Thalia sang, walking to the front of the stage, sparks flying off behind them. Annabeth was wearing a short red dress with sparkly red flats. Thalia was wearing a short black dress with black leggings and boots. It was fine.

_"It goes around the world, _  
_Just la la la la la,"_ only Thalia chanted this time.  
_"It's all around the world, _  
_Just la la la la la!_  
_And everybody singing, _  
_La la la la la! _  
_And our bells are ringing,_  
_La la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la!"_

The chime music Thalia found a little creepy but fun continued to play. Annabeth took it from there.

_"Inside an empty room,_  
_My inspiration flows-_  
_Now wait to hear the tune,_  
_Around my head it goes- _  
_The magic melody,_  
_You want to sing with me, _  
_Just la la la la la!_  
_The music is the key,"_ Annabeth sang.

_"And now the night is gone, _  
_Still it goes on and on-_  
_So deep inside of me, _  
_I long to set it free- _  
_I don't know what to do, _  
_Just can't explain to you- _  
_I don't know what to say, _  
_Oh, not another word."_

_"Just la la la la la!"_ They harmonized.

_"It goes around the world!"_(Annabeth.)

_"Just la la la la la!"_ (Both.)

_"It's all around the world!"_(Thalia.)

_"Just la la la la la!"_ (Both.)

_"And everybody singing-"_(Annabeth.)

"_La la la la la!"_ (Both.)

"_And now the bells are ringing-"_ (Thalia.)

_"La la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la!"_ (Both.)

Chime music...

_"The kisses of the sun…"_

The music leveled down, and Thalia chanted, _"Around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around!"_

_"Just la la la la la,"_ Annabeth sang, taking a step forward.  
_"It goes around the world!"_

_"Just la la la la la,_  
_It's all around the world!"_echoed Thalia, stepping up to meet her.

_"Just la la la la la,_  
_And everybody singing-"_

_"La la la la la, _  
_And now the bells are ringing-"_

_"La la la la la!"_ they chanted together. _"La la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la la la!"_

The music died down, and there were cheers. The usual.

Dionysus went up on the stage with them. "My, that was some performance, wasn't it?"

Thalia knew it wasn't much compared to other people's, but she nodded anyway.

"Well, next up is Piper and Hazel." Dionysus peered over at the sign up sheet. "Come on up girls!"

The next thing Thalia knew was that she was on the ground surrounded by her Hunters, still wearing her dress. The Hunters looked equally as surprised.

"Where did you come from?" asked a nine-year-old nymph who had joined just a few months ago. (Sixty-four brothers. No wonder she joined the Hunt.)

"I don't-" Thalia didn't even get to finish her sentance.

* * *

**AN: All Around the World. I'm putting the name up for people who didn't know the song. Because it is old, after all. I did want to do Heaven, because it would be funny to refer to it as Olympus. **

**I had moves to this song, but I took them out. If you want to see what they were, watch the music video of this song on YouTube.**

* * *

**Piper**

"Next up is Piper and Hazel!" Piper heard Dionysus announce. "Come on up girls!"

Piper took in a shaky breath. Then she took another one, trying to calm her jittery nerves. You're just nervous, that's all, she told herself during the time-stop.

Finally, Jimmy did his usual countdown to the ending of the time-stop. Hazel and Piper stood out of view from the audience, hidden at the back of the stage, where there were no lights. Piper was wearing something that might have been Goth if it wasn't bright pink and if she had been wearing the makeup. Hazel was wearing something similar to Piper's outfit, except it was blue.

The music started to play. Piper felt Hazel squeeze her hand gently. She squeezed back.

_"I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums,"_sang Piper stepping out into the light.

_"Oh what a shame that you came here with someone!"_echoed Hazel, also revealing her face.

_"So while you're here in my arms,"_ smiled Piper almost cruelly.

_"Let's make the most of the night—" _Hazel started, but was joined by Piper at the end.

"_Like we're gonna die young!"_ they chorused.

_"We're gonna die young!_  
_We're gonna die young!_  
_Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young!"_

Lights of blue and pink flashed onto the stage. Hazel walked to one side of the stage, and Piper to the other. During the beat/dubstep break, a few four second long video shots appeared on the screen. All of them were live of the audience. The first one was Zeus, who was drinking a glass of nectar while flirting with a random nymph, not realizing he was on camera. Piper had a feeling Hera was going to be blowing up things soon.

The second video was on the Hunters, who had realized they were on camera after the Zeus incident. They all cheered and waved, including Thalia who was still wearing her mini-dress.

That was all they got before;

_"Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young!"_

_"Young hearts, out our minds,_  
_Runnin' like we outta time,"_ sang Piper into the microphone headset.

_"Wild childs, lookin' good,_  
_Livin' hard just like we should!"_chanted Hazel from the opposite side, flexing her arms back, folding them over her chest, on the two first words.

_"Don't care who's watching when we tearing it up!"_ exclaimed Piper, making dramatic to-the-side ripping motions with her arms, and stomping her right foot at the same time.

_"You know,"_ chanted Hazel, then added, "_That magic that we got nobody can touch-"_  
Then she wagged her finger as if scolding a young child.

_"For sure!"_ yelled Piper.

_"Looking for some trouble tonight!"_ she added while crossing over to the middle of the stage.

"_Yeah_!" shouted the audience except for Zeus and Hera, who were having quite the argument.

_"Take my hand, I'll show you the wild, side!"_ commented Hazel, doing the exact same thing.

_"Like it's the last night of our lives!"_ sang Piper

_"Uh huh!" shouted the audience again._

_"We'll keep dancing till we die!"_ added Hazel as they met in the middle and marched up to the front of the stage together.

_"I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums!"_ sang Piper.

_"Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone!"_ Hazel smiled.

_"So while you're here in my arms—"_

_"Let's make the most of the night—"_

_"Like we're gonna die young!"_ they chorused.

_"We're gonna die young!_  
_We're gonna die young!_  
_Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young!"_

It was the beat/dubstep break again, so the invisible screen behind the two girls started showing random shots of the crowd again; a small group of Romans, cabin 14 at CHB dancing, led by Natashia, and a very cute Percabeth shot that made Aphrodite and nearly all of her kids sigh.

_"Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young!"_

_"Young hunks, taking shots_  
_Stripping down to dirty socks,"_ sang Hazel from the front of the stage.

_"Music up, gettin' hot,_  
_Kiss me, give me all you've got,"_ continued Piper.

_"It's pretty obvious that you've got a crush."_ Hazel pointed at someone randomly in the crowd accusingly.

_"You know!"_

_"Now, baby, I know, but can you please just hush!"_ sang Piper, dramatically, waving her hand in front of her face with a childish grin plastered on her face. But just to spice things up, she winked at Jason in the audience and gave him a flirtatious smile. Everyone was too busy ooh-ing to add, _"For sure!"_ in the song.

_"Looking for some trouble tonight,"_ said Hazel.

_"Yeah!"_

_"Take my hand and I'll show you the wild side!" _chanted Piper, extending an arm, fingers pointing down.

_"Like it's the last night of our lives—"_

_"Uh huh!"_

_"We'll keep dancing till we die!"_

_"I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums!"_ they sang in unison, then broke off as Hazel sang, "_Oh what a shame that you came here with someone!"_

_"So while you're here in my arms,"_ added Piper.  
_"Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young—"_

_"I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums,"_ continued Hazel before Piper had even finished. _"Oh what a shame that you came here with someone!"_

_"You came here with someone!"_ said Piper at the same time as Hazel but a few octaves higher. The spot where they were standing started to rise.

_"So while you're here in my arms—"_

_"Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young!" _they sang a few octaves apart from each other.

_"We're gonna die young!_  
_We're gonna die young!_  
_Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young!"_

The screen behind them showed one more video, and that was of Piper and Hazel up on the stage, screaming.

* * *

**I know the song says "that magic in your pants, it's making me blush", but that is a little disgusting, don't you think? So I changed that for I couldn't actually see neither Piper nor Hazel saying that.**

**I know the ending sounds as if they were terrified of something, but that was supposed to mean that they were happy.**

**Review! **

**And peace! **

**And joy! **

**And love! **

**And chocolate!**

**Mostly Chocolate.**


	12. Turning On, and Other Direction

**Disclaimer: ****The normal drill. Me no own anything.**

**Troll Rick: (Peers down into Tartarus.) MUAHAHAHAHA!  
****Me: Let me up!  
****Troll Rick: No.  
****Me: NOOOOOOO!**

**The first song isn't that detailed, apologies, but it _is _fairly interesting... The second song I tried to make it as descriptive as I could, though.**

**On with it! And may the gods ever be in your favour! (I am honestly using that so much now, I don't even know what it means!)**

* * *

**Piper**

Piper knew for a fact that the boys were going perform. She wasn't sure what exactly, though. When she had asked Jason, all he had done was throw back his head and laugh while she stared at him in disbelief.

So when she got down from that stage with Hazel, she was a little more curious than she should have been when they called up Jason's name.

Actually, to confuse us un-performing people even more, instead of calling up Jason, Percy, Frank, Leo and Nico with their names, he called them Other Direction.

Piper had a feeling this was going to be entertaining, not just for Aphrodite's kids...

* * *

**Percy**

No one was that nervous. Well, if "No one's" definition had been slightly changed. Jason looked kind of uncomfortable, and Frank was coming close to hyperventilating. Nico was just sulking as usual, staring out at the crowd as if he wished nothing more than to be there than where he was standing.

"Why am I here again?" he asked just to prove Percy's thought. Leo put a hand in the younger boy's shoulder.

_"Because,"_ said Leo, emphasizing the word. "If it was only the four of us, then it wouldn't be the five we're trying to get at. Get it? Plus, even though you are not part of the prophecy, you helped us defeat Gaea."

Nico just sighed.

"All right, guys!" said Apollo, walking to the with his Hephaestus iPad. "Leo and Percy already know how this goes but for you other people, this is going to show you a holographic version of what is going to happen when you get up on that stage."

Apollo pressed the on button and a holographic screen did pop up but not of what they really wanted.

"Why do you have a video of Artemis in—"

Apollo quickly turned off the iPad. "Stupid kindle app," he blamed. "Messing everything up."

**(AN: Does this sound familiar to anyone? _ShadowandMadonna_ maybe?)**

* * *

**Piper**

Piper had just finished her thought when the starting music of _What Makes You Beautiful_ by One Direction. As she had guessed, Aphrodite and her kids went crazy, surging to the front of the stage. Piper wondered if the only thing to make them crazier would be if someone sang _Baby _by Justin Beiber.

_"You're insecure,_  
_Don't know what for._  
_You're turning heads when you walk through the door_!" sang Percy, walking to the middle of the stage.

_"Don't need make up,_  
_To cover up._  
_Being the way that you are is enough_!" Percy winked at Annabeth in the crowd, and Piper laughed at her facial expression, wishing she had a camera.

_"Everyone else in the room can see it,_  
_Everyone else but you," _sang Jason, walking in next to Percy. He pointed at Piper, and this time, Annabeth was laughing at her.

_"Baby you light up my world like nobody else,_  
_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed," _they both sang, but now there was more than two voices. Now there were five, three more coming from the back of the stage, where Leo, Frank, and a sort of still skulking Nico we're coming in.

_"But when you smile at the ground it aint hard to tell,_  
_You don't know,_  
_You don't know you're beautiful!  
If only you saw what I can see,_  
_You'll understand why I want you so desperately._  
_Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe,_  
_You don't know,_  
_You don't know you're beautiful!"_

_"That's what makes you beautiful!" _chanted Leo, pointing at someone in the crowd. Piper couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw his finger pointing in the direction of Thalia. She didn't seem to notice. Good.

_"So c-come on',_  
_You got it wrong._  
_To prove I'm right I put it in a song," _sang Frank. Piper nudged Hazel who was standing open-mouthed next to her.

"_I don't know why, you're being shy. And turn away when I look into your eyes," _he finished.

_"Everyone else in the room can see it,_  
_Everyone else but you," _finished Jason.

_"Baby you light up my world like nobody else,_  
_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed._  
_But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell,_  
_You don't know,_  
_You don't know you're beautiful._  
_If only you saw what I can see,_  
_You'll understand why I want you so desperately._  
_Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe,_  
_You don't know,_  
_You don't know you're beautiful," _all of them sang. Behind them, a picture of the actual band appeared, except someone photo-shopped it so that Frank's, Jason's, Percy's, Leo's, and Nico's heads appeared instead. Jason was Harry, Percy was Liam, and Frank was Zain. Piper didn't remember the two other band members. She wasn't much of a Directioner, unlike the rest of her cabin.

_"That's what makes you beautiful," _added Leo as usual.

_"Nananana, nananananana. Nananana, nanana," _all five of them chanted.

_"Baby you light up my world like nobody else,_  
_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed._  
_But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell..." _sang Jason, not tearing his eyes off of Piper's once during those few lines. Piper felt her heart overwhelming with joy. She wanted so badly, so badly, to walks up onto that floating stage and kiss Jason, but he had a song to act. So instead, she blew I'm a kiss that he pretended to catch and place on his cheek as the rest of the band continued the song. Leo noticed this and nudged Jason with an accusing look on his face. Jason shoved him away playfully and continued the song as Leo regained his balance.

_"Baby you light up my world like nobody else,_  
_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed._  
_But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell,_  
_You don't know,_  
_You don't know you're beautiful._  
_If only you saw what I can see,_  
_You'll understand why I want you so desperately._  
_Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe,_  
_You don't know,_  
_You don't know you're beautiful."_

_"That's what makes you beautiful!" _they all ended in unison. All the kids of Aphrodite screamed, even Drew in her pink Korean outfit.

Jason beamed at Piper. She had just enough time to wave back before he gestured for her to come up on the stage. She looked around, everyone was looking at her. Finally, she gave in, and walked back up the oh-so familiar walkway to the stage, where the stage flew down a few feet so Piper could get on. With the obvious help of Jason, of course.

Of course.

* * *

**Annabeth**

She could be a proud daughter, and give her mom a pat on the back. She could have been a cautious daughter, and could have given advice. She even could have been a curious daughter, and demand why Mom of all people had asked her "Why me?"

But the only thing she could manage was a shocked daughter.

"You want _us _to perform?" Annabeth squeaked after her mom approached her and told her idea.

"Why, too absurd for you?" she replied, taking a sip of deep purple wine from a gold goblet.

"No, it's just that you don't strike me as a partier, you know?" Annabeth said cautiously. "I mean, usually the partying is left for Dionysus and Zeus and whatever. Maybe you drank too much wine or..."

Annabeth's voice faltered, realizing she had gone into the no-no zone. Athena gave her a wild look. Annabeth prepared herself to be blown to bits by the goddess—_her own mother!_ she realized—but all Athena did was throw back her head and laugh, spilling a little bit of wine from her goblet.

Annabeth let out a sigh of relief. _S_hementally thanked Dionysus for creating wine and driving her own mom high.

_You're welcome, _came a voice from her head, but Annabeh didn't notice it because Athena had continued to speak.

"We could do a mother-daughter kind of song, you know?" she said, swishing the deep purple drink around in the cup. "I was thinking about that David Gueta song, the one that goes da da da da da, dum dum da dum da." She started to hum the song aimlessly. After a while of this, she took a long sip from her goblet. Annabeth was tempted to snatch it away and smack her mother.

"Oh, and maybe we could have someone like Nike sing the rap part," Athena tuned back in for a second, catching Annabeth off guard. "I hear she likes to sing... whatever..."

"Um, Mom?" asked Annabeth before she could continue pointlessly humming songs again. "Do you want me to ask Nike and sign up, or—"

"Yeah!" she exclaimed, as if she had just been told Christmas was coming early. "Why didn't I think of that?"

Annabeth left before she could be tortured furthermore.

* * *

**Nike**

Nike was excited. This didn't happen often. Being a goddess, you'd think life would be great. Parties, endless immortality, cute boys... It actually kinda got old and boring.

So when the famous daughter of Athena came up to her and asked if she would perform, you know her answer.

In fact, Nike had been wishing for someone to ask her that. She had decided that she wouldn't sing unless someone had asked to join a group or whatever. If she had been asked to to this maybe, say, two millennia ago, she would have done it in hope of gaining was the attention of her secret crush, Asclepius. Don't ask what happened to him; Nike didn't like to talk about it.

She couldn't contain her excitement. She felt like squealing like a little kid.

"Now, for our last performance song until our mystery band arrives," said Dionysus mysteriously, "Please welcome, goddess and her daughter!"

Nike almost wet her godly pants. She was up high on the Hephaestus Podium, whatever you called it, hidden up high where no one could see her until her part. Their secret performer was on the one on the opposite HP, waiting patiently for her short, but important, part.

The starting music started to play. Dun dun da dun. Dun da dum da dum. Nike felt like humming to herself. The lights swerved over the crowd. Nike caught sight of her brother, Kratos, in the crowd. She started to wave, but then realized he couldn't see her. She felt a little defeated, but before she could contemplate this, Athena and Annabeth made their appearance.

_"Doctor, doctor, need you bad, hold me, babe," _started Athena, singing to _Turn Me On_.

_Doctor, doctor, where ya at? Give me something," _echoed her daughter. She seemed not-so jittery as most the people who got on the stage. Nike realized that this would be her third time performing, so she would have had a lot of experience.

_"I need your love, I need your love, I need your loving—"_

_"You got that kind of medicine that keeps me going."_

_"My body needs a hero, come and save me! _  
_Something tells me you know how to save me! _  
_I've been feeling real low, oh I need you! _  
_Come and rescue me!" _sang Athena, lights flashing everywhere.

_"Oooooooooooooooooooh," _chanted Annabeth, as Nike calmed her nerves. She tapped the bottom of the microphone anxiously, waiting for the long _ooh _to finish.

_"Make me come alive, come on and turn me on!" _sang Nike, appearing. Her HP had been placed really high in the sky, so Jimmy had to shine a light directly in her face so people could see her. She squinted slightly, but kept her posture. The HP shot of sparks and descended toward the main stage, which was slightly flying upward as well.

_"Touch me, save my life, come on and turn me on! _  
_I'm too young to die, come on and turn me on!_  
_Turn me on, turn me on, turn me on, turn me on!" _she finished, feeling proud of herself. _If only Asclepius could see me now..._

_"Make me come alive, come on and turn me on!  
Touch me, save my life, come on and turn me on!  
I'm too young to die, come on and turn me on!  
Turn me on, turn me on, turn me on, turn me on!"_ she finished as the HP landed by the stage, she walked off to join the blonde gray-eyed girls.

_"Boy you make it, make it right,"_ sang Annabeth firstly this time.

_"My temperature is super high," _finished Athena, fanning herself sarcastically.

_"If I scream if I cry—" _

_"It's only cause I feel alive!"_

_"My body needs a hero, come and save me! _  
_Something tells you know how to save me!_  
_I've been feeling weird, oh, oh I need you! _  
_Come and rescue me!"_ Annabeth chanted. Nike couldn't be sure, but she thought she caught Annabeth sneak a glance at her even-more-famous-than-she-was boyfriend, the one and only Percy Jackson.

_"Oooooooooooooooooh," _Athena chanted. Nike wasn't as nervous as she was before anymore. In fact, she felt... alive. Ever since, well, the eighteenth century when she met Andrew Wilkins. And she had met a few other great men in the past few years; such as Jimmy and Jacob's father, the Spanish guy.

Nike stole a look at the DJ, where one of the two twins she had just mentioned was working hard with Apollo. She smiled. She also made a mental note to go say hi to him and his brother later on in the evening... and the rest of their cabin from CHB.

It was then that she realized that Athena had finished and it was her turn.

_"Make me come alive, come on and turn me on!"_ Nike sang, stepping forward with a hand raised.  
_"Touch me, save my life, come on and turn me on! _  
_I'm too young to die, come on and turn me on!_  
_Turn me on, turn me on, turn me on, turn me on!" _

_"Make me come alive, come on and turn me on!  
Touch me, save my life, come on and turn me on! _  
_I'm too young to die, come on and turn me on!_  
_Turn me on, turn me on, turn me on, turn me on!" _

_"You've got my life in the palm of your hands," _chanted Annabeth as if in a trance.

_"Come save me now, I know you can," _added the goddess of wisdom.

_"D-d-d-don't let me die young! _  
_I just want you to father my young! _  
_I just want you to be my doctor! _  
_We can get it crackin' chiropractor, _  
_I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I..." _sang their secret performer, coming down from the sky and reaching the stage just as she finished her last line. She created a large uproar from the crowd. Nike knew Annabeth had a long hate of Hera for a long time, but today, or at least for this song, she gave no death glares, nor mean looks, nor mean comments.

_"I-I-I-I know you can save me and make me feel alive!" _sang Annabeth. The three goddess— two of them Olympians—and the demigod walked to the front in unison.

_"Make me come alive, come on and turn me on!" _Nike sang along with Hera this time.  
_"Touch me, save my life, come on and turn me on! _  
_I'm too young to die, come on and turn me on! _  
_Turn me on, turn me on, turn me on, turn me on!_

_"Make me come alive, come on and turn me on!  
Touch me, save my life, come on and turn me on!  
I'm too young to die, come on and turn me on!  
Turn me on, turn me on, turn me on, turn me on!"_

The song ended. Athena hugged her daughter tightly. Nike turned to Hera. She was hesitant, but she gave the goddess of victory a quick awkward hug. Nike didn't feel fulfilled.

"Fist bump?" she asked. Hera seemed a little happier with this.

Dionysus joined the four girls on the stage. "Thank you, ladies," he said dramatically. Then he knelt on one knee sarcastically and kissed Hera's hand. The audience laughed. He straightened himself up again.

"Our guest performer is coming soon!" he said. "But he caught in traffic created by fan-nymphs. So in the meantime..."

All of a sudden, the lights went crazy and the song _Livin' La Vida Loca_ started to blare from the un-seeable speakers. Nike was suddenly teleported to the ground. She peered over to the stage, but it had resumed its position of flying over the heads of people.

Nike really wanted to figure out who this fellow guest performer was. But obviously, she had to wait. So in the meantime, she decided to fulfill the promise to herself and went off to find her children.

* * *

**The two songs; One direction _What Makes You Beautiful _(duh!) and Niki Minaj and David Guetta _Turn Me On _(It became a little obvious after a while.)**

**And I wrote the 1D song on an iPad, so excuse any mistakes I didn't catch! (You know, that spell-check thing can be useful, but it can also be so annoying.) **

**Peace! Nothing more to say! Review, please! And peace, again!**


	13. Annabeth Almost Breaks Up

**Me: THERE IS NOTHING TO DO IN TARTARUS! I AM SOOO BORED!  
****Percy: C'mon, Annabeth, lets— OH MY GODS WHAT IS A _MORTAL_ DOING IN TARTARUS?  
****Me: Um... Excuse me? I am a demigod! At least, I hope I am...  
****Annabeth: How did you get down here?  
****Rick: MUAHAHAHAHA! Now I can kill Percabeth _and _the obnoxious mortal!  
****Me: I am not obnoxious... Nor a mortal! I hope...  
****Rick: (Picks up pen and paper and scribbles something down. At first, nothing happens. Then a pack of wild monsters comes out of nowhere and surrounds the trio.)  
****Rick: Have fun! (Walks away.)  
****Me: (sigh) My life is more rotten than garbage.**

**AND THAT IS WHY IS STILL DON'T OWN PERCABETH!**

**...****OR ANY OTHER PAIRINGS!**

**But I mean what I said in the earlier chapters—Rick doesn't own Greek Mythology. I know tons of series about the stuff... Rick's is just the most famous... ****So Rick owns the demigods and Hunters and a few other people. But, he does not own the gods or goddess or Mount Olympus or Mount Olympus Dance Party!**

**Ha! I found a loophole...!**

**On with it! And may the gods ever be in your favour!**

**THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO _HPvsHG._ THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.**

* * *

**Jason**

_Livin' la Vida Loca _was a fun song, he would grant you that. Especially since Jason danced it with Piper. He noticed that she kept sneaking glances toward the stage, as if expecting someone. Jason caught himself doing the same thing- and pretty much everyone else at the party... well, except some of Nike's kids, who were having a pretty enthusiastic conversation with their mom, with lots of dramatic hand gestures and changes of pitch.

He noticed the stage was still empty. Dang it. He caught himself looking up again.

* * *

**Piper**

Jason could have just started at the stage if he wanted. No need to hurt his neck by craning it sideways every four seconds.

Well, the mean **(AN: Thank you, Math Teacher, for that wonderful math term) **was four seconds. Piper counted two seconds once, and then three another times, and the longest period was eight. But she couldn't blame him, really. She was doing the same thing.

"Who do you think it is?" she asked. Jason gave her startled look. She had surprised him with her voice.

"Uh... I dunno... Jupiter, maybe?" volunteered Jason.

Piper shook her head. "If it was Zeus, then he would be performing right now. I think whoever it is isn't here yet for whatever reason."

"Probably," said Jason. Leo shot past them, saying something about needing to see Hazel.

_Hurry up, _Piper thought, glancing over at the stage pathetically one last time. _We're dying to meet you._

* * *

**Percy**

He was too busy eating a blue frosting cake to even care about what was going about at the moment.

* * *

**Annabeth**

Annabeth was worried. She had noticed Dionysus' frantic looks at the stage and at his (20000 dollar) watch that no one else would catch. His body language indicated he was trying to muster the patience to wait for their late visitor, though he hid it well, Annabeth had to admit.

She wasn't sure whether or not to approach the god. It would be wise not to, but to leave him like this?

"Um, sir?" asked Annabeth. Dionysus looked at her with a scowl on his face.

"What?" he asked indignantly.

"Is there a problem, sir?" asked Annabeth politely. Dionysus sighed.

"Our guest performer got caught in a mob of fans in the lobby of the empire state building," he dramatically said. "And he actually stopped to give them autographs, forgetting about his supposed arrival here." He looked at Annabeth. "You're a smart girl. Maybe you can convince him to continue hi oh-so-long journey up the elevator."

Dread appeared on Annabeth's face. "No, sir, I really don't—"

Dionysus snapped his fingers, and suddenly Annabeth was standing in the lobby of the empire state building, where hundreds - possibly thousands - of nymphs were all cheering one name.

Annabeth saw him and nearly melted. She could see why the nymphs were so obsessed. He was _gorgeous. _

_Snap out of it, Annabeth, _she told herself. _You're not here to go all googly-eyed over some hot guy. Besides, you already have a boyfriend._

She stared at the boy a little longer. _Well I have to go talk to him anyway, _she thought, and went over to the boy.

* * *

**Leo**

Too busy eating blue cake that Percy taught him to like.

* * *

**Hazel**

Hazel was just like everyone else. Staring intensely at the stage.

_C'mon, c'mon..._

She looked away just in time to see her friend appear, looking all torn up and bruised and even wearing a small scratch on her face. Hazel gasped and ran over, Frank tailing close behind.

"What happened?" she asked, putting a caring hand on her friend's shoulder. Annabeth swayed on the spot.

"Nymphs... lots... no weapon... to kill... but... won't stop... me... from reaching... my Narcy!"

Hazel went to search for a spot where Annabeth could rest, Frank following unsurely behind.

"Explain exactly what happened," said Hazel once Annabeth had sat down.

"Well..." She swallowed. "I noticed Dionysus was looking a little anxious since the mystery guest hadn't appeared yet." The way she said this made Hazel think that for her it wasn't such a mystery anymore. "So I went up to him, and he said to go get the guest performer. Before I could disagree, I was in the lobby of the empire state building, and there were tons of nymphs." Annabeth clung onto Hazel's sleeve with a dazed look on her face, as if she was speaking there, but realizing a world somewhere else. "Oh my gods we was sooo cute! The way he smiled and waved... no wonder all the nymphs were obsessed." She laughed really un-Annabeth like. "I wish you could have seen him. We could have had a double marriage! You with Frank, me"- sigh -"with-"

"Annabeth, are you even realizing what you are saying?" demanded Hazel. She was tempted to grab Annabeth by the shoulders and shake her back and forth. "You have a boyfriend!"

"Yeah... I wish Percy had seen him too," she sighed.

"Listen, Annabeth," said Hazel, leaning close to her face so they were eye-to-eye. **(AN: Oh, gods, I can so see that in a sketch.) **"I know this guy. He's a real jerk, trust me." Annabeth started to protest, but that was when Percy skipped into the picture.

"Annabeth!" exclaimed Percy, his face lighting up when he saw her. Then his cheerful/goofy grin turned concerned when he saw Annabeth with some strange love look her face.

"Percy!" exclaimed Annabeth, and she gave her odd laugh again. "You would never believe what just happened. I met this guy, and he is sooo gorgeous, I thought I would die. Maybe we could have a quadruple marriage! You with Rachel, Hazel with Frank, Jason with Piper, Grover with Juniper, Katie and Travis..." She started to list a bunch of pairings, most of them not being real pairings, and some actually containing some dead members.

"Thalia and Nico, Leo and Reyna, Beckendorf and Silena, Hedge and Nellie..."

Percy looked horrified. Hazel explained everything to him as fast as she could. When she finished, Percy looked somewhat more relieved, knowing that his girlfriend hadn't rejected him because of who he was.

"Quick," he said. "Feed her some ambrosia."

"Um, we don't _have _ambrosia," Frank stated the obvious. "Besides, it may help her _minor _cuts and bruises, but it won't turn her sane again."

Percy leaned close to his girlfriend. "Annabeth, listen to me," he said.

Then Percy slapped Annabeth. Twice. Hazel gasped at the abrupt of this.

"Wake up!" he yelled in her face. Annabeth looked up and Percy.

Then she slapped him. Twice.

_"OW!"_

Annabeth tried to give Percy a mad look, but failed and gave into a big grin.

"Annabeth!" started Percy, surging forward and hugging Annabeth. "You would never believe what—"

"I know," Annabeth interrupted. Hazel truly believed that live, sad and slow violin music should be playing from somewhere.

"You knew what you were doing?" asked Frank, turning the moment awkward and earning himself annoyed looks from the Percabeth couple.

Annabeth's reply never was heard. Leo rushed in that same moment.

"Guys, did you see the guest performer?" he asked. Blue cake crumbs flaked off from around his mouth. "Tall, handsome, oh-my-gods-I-want-to-melt guy? The guy with—"

"We know, Leo," Annabeth replied. Leo sighed.

"You always do," he muttered.

* * *

**Leo**

Percy left for some reason. Leo didn't care. He was too busy eating blue cake.

Man, how could he have not known about this his entire life? It was like living in a garbage dump twenty long years and then going to live at Mount Olympus.

Then he spotted the guest performer, and he was at the garbage dump again. Leo stuffed the rest of his blue cake in his mouth and went off to find Hazel. When he did, she already knew about him.

_Fail!_

Piper and Jason came wondering what the giant fuss was about. So for like the millionth time, Hazel, Frank, Annabeth and Percy explained what happened. Piper sighed, leaned over and wiped Leo's mouth with her sleeve. Leo gave her a whiny look, and she gave him a I'm-the-older-sibling-here-so-I'm-boss-and-can-do-what-I-want look. Even though Piper wasn't older and they weren't siblings at all.

Leo peered up at the stage. It was still empty, but he was willing to bet that soon, peering out to see his audience, would be the face of Narcissus.

* * *

**Review, please! Thank you to the people who have reviewed! U R awesome! And sorry there were no songs in this chapter. I'm doing that next time. Tee-hee!**

**Peace! Review, please!**


	14. Narcissus and the Nymphs

**I don't own this.**

**On with it! And may the gods ever be in your favour!**

* * *

**Hazel**

Hazel had hoped she would never see Narcissus again. But of course, Fortuna just had to be mean.

The song _Africa _ended, and a booming voice suddenly bellowed, "WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GODS AND GODDESS, OTHER-MYTHOLOGIC-FIGURES-THAT-DON'T-FALL-IN-EITHER-CATEGORIES! IT'S MY PLEASURE TO INTRODUCE, THE ONE AND ONLY, NARCISSUS AND THE NYMPHS!"

He didn't even finish. Or if he did, it was never heard. On the word _Narcissus, _let's say 95% of the girls there screamed and surged forward to where they knew the stage would reappear.

"PLEASE, FOR YOUR SAFTEY AND OURS, PLEASE HIDE ANY REFLECTIVE OBJECTS FROM VIEW," said the voice, a little louder this time so it could be overheard. "THANK YOU."

"Why?" asked Piper. Hazel rolled her eyes.

"You don't want to know," she said, and started patting her clothes (yes, she and Piper had changed out of their blue and pink outfits) searching for anything that may reflect anything.

Then the lights started to flash toward the stage, which Hazel had noticed had grown a little larger. The invisible flying cameras caught videos of what happened on the stage and flashed it live on either side, so people far away could see what was happening.

The Narcissus appeared, and a couple girls fainted. One of them was cheering right next to Hazel, so she had the pleasure of moving her to the side where the girl wouldn't get trampled.

_"PARTY ROCK!" _he sang, and it echoed through the entire place.

_"YEAH!  
WOO!  
LETS GO!"_

_"Party rock is in the house tonight!  
Everybody just have a good time," _sang Narcissus. That was when Hazel noticed around half a dozen nymphs behind him, dancing in unison to the music. They all wore dark sunglasses to cover their eyes, and were all wearing something Hazel found a little inappropriate. (Bellies showing, short-shorts, that kind of stuff.)

Well, all except for this one nymph. She just stood around in the back, watching the other nymphs as if they were her lead. Hazel also noticed she wasn't just looking at the nymphs around her, but she was scanning the top of people's heads in the crowd as well, as if looking for someone. There was also something written in a black marker all over her upper arms.

Hmm...

_"Everybody just have a good time!_

"_Party rock is in the house tonight!_  
_Everybody just have a good time._  
_And we gonna make you lose your mind!_  
_We just wanna see you..."_

_"Shake That!"_

That was when the lights started to blink on and off rapidly, a little so that Hazel started to get dizzy. But just a little. Some sort of neon green spray shot out from nowhere and started to shoot out from nowhere along with sparks and confetti and beach balls for some reason. (Hazel is from a different century; remember? She didn't understand the lifestyles of today.)

_"In the club, party rock,  
look up on your girl, she on my jock.  
Nonstop when we in the spot!_  
_Booty move away like she on the block," _said Narcissus. He was pretty good at this, decided Hazel as a few more girls fainted. Beside her, Piper rolled her eyes. She and Hazel were part of the 0.00006% of the girls there who weren't falling heads over heels for Narcissus, the other few being Queen Hera, Lady Athena, Lady Artemis and Lady Hestia.

_"What the track I gots to know,_  
_Top jeans tattoo cause I'm rock and roll,_  
_Half black half white diamino,_  
_Gain the money, out the door."_

_"Yoooo!" _shouted the nymphs and the rest of the crowd.

_"I'm runnin' through these girls like drano,_  
_I got that devilish flow, rock and roll, no halo,_  
_We party rock!" _

_"Yea!" _shouted the nymphs and the crowd again.

_"That's the crew that I'm reppin',_  
_On the rise to the top no led in our zeppelin!"_

_"Hey!" _

_"Party rock is in the house tonight!" _It was just Narcissus singing anymore; everyone who knew the words to the song were.  
"_Everybody just have a good time._  
_And we gonna make you lose your mind!_  
_Everybody just have a good time." _

_"Party rock is in the house tonight!  
Everybody just have a good time.  
And we gonna make you lose your mind!  
We just wanna see ya!"_

_"Shake that,"_ said the nymphs in unison in an almost robotic voice.

The music paused, and Narcissus sang, "_Everyday I'm shuffling."_

The lights did their confusing blink on/blink off pattern. Some guy with a box as a head came out and started to, what people in this century called it, _shuffling. _

_"Shuffling, shuffling."_

_"Step up fast and be the first girl to make me throw this cash," _said Narcissus, one hand on the microphone, the other suddenly holding a stack of one dollar bills. He tossed it into the crowd uncaringly. The money separated in the air and floated down, people running to the front, desperate to grab something, even though it was mortal money and unless were going into the mortal world had no use to them.

_"We get money don't be mad now stop-" _Narcissus pointed a hand toward the crowd as if he were stopping someone from continuing their path. "_Hating is bad,  
_he continued with a short nod of the head.

_"One more shot for us-"_

_"Another round!" yelled the nymphs and the crowd._

_"Please fill up my cup-"_

_"Don't mess around!"_

_"We just wanna see-"_

_"You shake it now!"_

_"Now you wanna be-"_

_"You're rockin' now!"_

_"Get up, get down, put your hands up to the sound!" _chanted the nymphs. Six podiums started to rise, each containing a nymph. Except for the unsure one, they all were dancing and chanting in perfect unison.

_"Get up, get down, put your hands up to the sound!  
Get up, get down, put your hands up to the sound!  
Put your hands up to the sound,  
Put your hands up to the sound!"_

_"Get up,  
Get up,  
Get up,  
Get up,  
Get up,  
Get up,  
Get up,  
Get up,  
Get up,  
Put your hands up to the sound-_  
_To the sound-_  
_Put your hands up!  
Put your hands up!  
Put your hands up!  
Put your hands up!"_

There was a large explosion behind them, and showers of sparks floated down. Now wherever the nymphs or Narcissus or the box-head man stepped, the spot would glow pink, getting brighter and brighter with every second that passed.

_"Party rock is in the house tonight!"_

_"Put your hands up!"_ chanted the nymphs in their semi-creepy robot voices.

_"Everybody just have a good time._  
_And we gonna make you lose your mind!_  
_Everybody just have a good-good-good time!"_

_"Ohhhhh! Ohhhhhh! Ohhhhhh! Ohhh!"_

_"Every day I'm shuffling!"_

_"Put your- put your-"_

_"Yeah!"_

_"Put your_ _hands up!_  
_Put your hands up!_  
_Put your hands up!_  
_Put your hands up!..."_

The song ended. Everyone cheered loudly. "Thank you!" yelled Narcissus, giving his gleaming white smile, making more girls faint. The nymphs stopped dancing and their podiums lowered back to the stage's floor. Five of them grouped together at the back, cheering! "Thank you!" Narcissus called again. "You all are almost as good as me!"

This was the largest round of people passing out.

Then something strange happened; the lonely nymph suddenly rushed forward, shoving away Narcissus as if he were just a mere obstacle in her path. (Hazel guessed that made it 0.00007%) She kept shouting something, _Lion? _Why would she be yelling that?

It wasn't until Hazel heard Leo laughing beside her that she realized it wasn't _Lion_ she was screaming for, whoever he was.

It was _Leo. _

Hazel burst out laughing.

"Leo," yelled the nymph. "Leo?" Jimmy lowered the stage to the floor so the nymph could get off without snapping her neck. "Leo?"

Hazel and Leo laughed even harder. The rest of the group stared at them strangely.

"Is there something we don't know about?" asked Frank.

"Leo!" shouted the nymph, rushing forward, catching sight of Leo again. Pushing away people in her way, gods or not, she finally reached the person she was calling for.

"Leo!" she cheered. "Team Leo! Whoo!" It was then that Hazel realized that it wasn't marker written on her arms; they were tattoos. Homemade tattoos.

Of Leo.

"Yeah," replied Hazel to Frank through fits of laughter. "There is."

The nymph clung onto Leo's arm and smiled, just a tad crazily.

* * *

**Team Leo! Whoo!**

**This idea I had ever since I had the idea of Narcissus. ****But it fits, no?**

**Also, I did change the song a little, instead of "get naked now," whish is gross, I changed it to, "You're rockin' now." Just to clear that up.**

**Peace! Bookworm, out! **


	15. Sexy and I Know It

**Me: (Looking up from Tartarus.) On my birthday, Rick? ON MY FREAKING BIRTHDAY?  
****Rick: MUAHAHA— *cough cough*  
****Me: HA! (Points finger upwards.) Serves you write! Get it? Serves you _write?  
_****Rick: (Still choking.)  
****Me: (Concerned) Is something wrong? (Pauses) Wait, why do I even care? He left me in Tartarus on my birthday! (Laughs)  
****Rick: (Falls forward into Tartarus. Only when he reaches the bottom that I realize he was shot by an arrow from behind and he was choking on his own blood.)  
****Me: WHAT! (Kneels down next to him.) You can't die! Now I'll be stuck in Tartarus forever! And I'll never get to read HoH! (Looks up and the heavens with fists raised.) _WHY?!_**

**And that is why I don't own PJO or HoO. Of course, the Fates made it so Rick came back to life so he could continue to write so people would keep believing in the gods so they wouldn't die out like Pan. Typical. **

**And I'm still stuck in Tartarus! Whoever shot the arrow just had to end their kindness there.**

**That said, **

**On with it! And may the gods ever be in your favour! (I watched that movie what felt like ages ago! Why am I still writing this down in every chapter?)**

* * *

**Leo**

Luckily, the nymph left for the snack _heaven _when he said he needed a drink. Then he ditched. He got Jason and Piper to go along with him.

"Thank you, fans," said Narcissus from the stage. Leo gritted his teeth when he heard his voice. Jason and Piper knew what happened that day, for the nymph- Leo didn't even know her name- must have told it to anyone passing by a million times. Piper was still suffering from random outbursts of laughter.

"Oh, gods, he is _so _cute!" Leo heard a demigod tell her friend. He shoved the offending person, oblivious to her complaints.

"_Team Leo?" _demanded Piper for what felt like the twentieth time.

"Yeah," replied Leo. "'Cause that's how much my brain is messed up," he muttered under his breath silently.

"I'm really glad you could come," droned on Narcissus. "I wish I didn't have to... Stealing my reflection for the second time... Blackmail... Curse those gods..."

Leo was for once glad of the gods' actions.

Narcissus went on, doing the usual talk between songs. Leo kept trudging on, trying to get as far away from the snack table he could, Piper and Jason trailing behind.

Leo was only aware of the fact that another song had come on when he heard Narcissus say, "This next cover describes me pretty well, don't you think?"

Then the intro music started to play... Leo knew this song... He remembered climbing on top of the Hephaestus lunch table before the usual campfire and singing it, in the few months before they went off to defeat Gaea. Everyone had been hysterics that day. He stopped walking, Piper and Jason stopping with him.

_"When I walk on by, girl's be lookin' like  
Damn he fly._  
_I pimp to be beat,_  
_Walkin down the street in my new lafreak," _the song went. If it was possible for Piper to be laughing more than she was right now, she was. The song gave everyone a bad case of uncontrollable laughter. And for CHB, funny memories.

_"Yeah!"_

_"This is how I roll!_  
_Animal print pants, out of control._  
_It's Redfoo with the big ass fro,_  
_And like Bruce Lee, I rock the club, yo!" _Leo shot a quick look at the stage. The 5 nymphs were all crowded around Narcissus as if begging him to date them. Leo couldn't contain a small smile. It looked ridiculous.

_"Girl look at that body!  
Girl look at that body!  
Girl look at that body!_  
_I work_ _out_!" Narcissus flexed his very muscular arms. The nymphs on the stage fanned their faces dramatically while a few other nymphs on the ground did the same, faiting afterwards. Leo looked to his left and saw a crew of harpies dragging a few unconscious bodies into a pile. All of them were girls. A few goddesses.

_"Girl look at that body  
Girl look at that body! _  
_Girl look at that body!_  
_Uh, uh huh, I work out!" _

_"When I walk in the spot, this is what I see._  
_Everybody stops and they staring at me, _  
_I got passion in my pants, _  
_And I ain't afraid to show it,  
Show it,  
show it,  
show it..."_

The lights faded in less than a second, evolving the entire place in darkness.

_"I'm sexy and I know it."_

Leo didn't know they got the lights to turn back on so quickly, but he was guessing it had something to do with his father. As well as the fact that Narcissus was now wearing a completely different outfit than before the lights went dark. So were the nymphs. Instead of their identical pink revealing clothes, they were all wearing different outfits that you may find a popular girl wear when going to the shopping mall with her girlfriends.

_"I'm sexy and I know it."_

_"Yeah!"_

_"When I'm at the mall, security just can't fight them off," _said Narcissus, walking to the left side of the stage, the girls following close behind like a bunch of admirers.

_"And when I'm at the beach, I'm in the speedo's tryn' to tan my cheeks."_

_"_What?" demanded Piper (a little shocked) beside Leo at the same time Narcissus sang _"What?" _Leo wasn't sure if this was because she knew the song, or because she couldn't believe what the lyrics just said. Probably the second one.

_"This is how I roll, _  
_C'mon ladies, it's time to go."_ Two of the cuter nymphs linked arms with Narcissus while the other three watched from the other side of the stage, shooting jealous looks at them.

_"We're headed to the bar, baby, don't be nervous._  
_No shoes, no shirt and I still get service—"_

_"What?" _the crowd shouted.

_"Girl look at that body,  
Girl look at that body,  
Girl look at that body,  
I work out!_  
_Girl look at that body,  
Girl look at that body-"_

"'Trying to tear my cheese'?" demanded Piper again. "What absurdity? Who in the right mind would put that in a song?" Then she ranted on and on about it.

_"When I walk in the spot, this is what I see,_  
_Everybody stops and they staring at me." _Narcissus freed an arm and pointed it forward as if stopping someone. Then he freed the other arm and pointed at his face with both hand.

_"I got passion in my pants-"_

_"WHAT?" _shrieked Piper.

_"—Ain't afraid to show it,  
Show it,  
Show it,  
Show it..."_  
_I'm sexy and I know it."_

_"Sexy and I know it..."_

_"Check it out, check it out!"_

That was when Piper excused herself to the washroom, knowing what happened next.

**[For the sake of sensitive people like Piper, and people in general, the Fates have decreed that the following two verses will be omitted. _Thank you for your patience and understanding._]**

_"Girl look at that body,  
Girl look at that body,  
Girl look at that body, _  
_I work out!"_

_"Girl look at that body,_  
_Girl look at that body,_  
_Girl look at that body,_  
_I work out!_

_"Out, out, out, out, out, out, out..."_

_"I'm sexy and I know it!"_

* * *

**(Whoever has seen the Elmo version of this song, high-five!)**

**This is the perfect song for Narcissus! Thumbs up if you agree!**

**Peace! Bookworm, out! And I totally agree with Piper when it comes to the song lyrics! (Couldn't think of anything to replace it, though.) And I took out the "wiggle" part because it is completely disgusting! If you want to see that atrocity, watch the music video. (I only watched ten seconds of it and I still have nightmares. *shudder*)**


	16. Paris and Heracles Come In

**Me: (Skipping through forest really joyfully because I'm not in Tartarus anymore.) SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW, IT HAS JUST SNOWED!  
****Thalia: C'mon, Hunters, we'll stay in this forest for the night.  
****Me: LA LA LA LA- OH MY GODS IT'S THE HUNTERS!  
****(All Hunters except Thalia notch arrow at me.)  
****Thalia: (Speaks to Hunters.) Calm down. She's probably just a lost, confused, mortal. (Speaks to me.) Listen, little girl-  
****Me: Hey! I just turned twelve! I'm not little anymore! (Crosses arms over chest like an upset two-year-old.)  
****Thalia: (Shakes head.) Whatever. We're just doing a re-enactment of the... uh... old times. We must ask you to leave the premises immediately.  
****Me: Uh, no you aren't, Thalia. You're the Hunters! (Smiles big.)  
****Thalia: (Sternly) How do you know my name?  
****Me: (Face falls.) Well, I, uh...**

**WHY I DON'T OWN PJO OR HOO... SOMEHOW.**

**On with it! And may the gods ever be in your—**

**You know what? I'm just going to drop it.**

**_THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO SHADOWANDMADONNA FOR HER FOURTH-WALL IDEA. PEACE._**

* * *

**Percy**

Percy didn't care how disgusting the songs Narcissus was singing; he had his girlfriend back. At the moment, she was trying to give the stage the cold shoulder, but whenever she thought Percy wasn't looking, she would peer over and sigh. Finally, Percy had enough.

"Annabeth," he said. "Narcissus won't date you. He won't marry you, he won't kiss you, he won't admire you, he won't love you, he won't even acknowledge you. He is in love with himself. Remember the announcement just before he went up to perform his first song? 'Please take away any reflective objects in view?' Because if he takes one glimpse at himself, just one, he will stop singing. Show over. Get over him!"

"I have," said Annabeth hotly, turning back to face Percy. "I just wanted to actually face the performer. Jeez."

All of a sudden, some blonde girl wearing an orange CHB shirt walked up to them, although Percy had never seen her at camp, or anywhere else for that matter, before. Her fists were clenched at her sides, and her face was boiling red with anger.

"Uh..." started Percy when she got close, but she didn't acknowledge him. She went straight to Annabeth and slapped her right across the face.

_"ANNABETH MINERVA CHASE!"_ yelled the strange girl. She raised her hand again to slap Annabeth, and she was so shocked that she didn't reply. _"IF YOU DON'T SNAP OUT OF THAT LOVE-STRUCK STUPOR RIGHT NOW, YOUNG LADY, I WILL SLAP YOU SO HARD THAT YOUR TEETH WILL STILL BE RATTLING FORTY YEARS FROM NOW! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?! YOU ARE ACTING LIKE A LOVESTRUCK ***BEEP***! YOU AND PERCY SHALL NOT BREAK UP! PERCABETH IS FOREVER! NARCISSUS IS IN LOVE WITH HIMSELF, AT THAT! AND HE IS NOTHING BUT AN UGLY IDIOT WHO DUMPED AN INNOCENT NYMPH! SO REMEMBER YOUR BOYFRIEND, OR I ALONG WITH THE REST OF THE PERCABETH FANS WILL BE OUT FOR BLOOD... YOUR BLOOD!"_ The girl must have slapped Annabeth ten times during her speech. Then she hotly turned on her heels and stomped away. Percy could almost see the steam coming out of her ears and the small tornado they sometimes put in comics and anime cartoons over her head as she left. Annabeth massaged her face.

"That hurt," she said, rubbing her cheeks which were now bright red.

"Who was THAT crazy chick that just slapped Annabeth?" Frank asked Hazel.

"Probably a Percabeth fan girl who decided to break the fourth wall," replied Hazel casually.

"Does that usually happen?" asked Frank.

"Only in extreme cases," said Hazel. "It happened all the time with Jason and Piper whenever Reyna was around. I also remember someone telling me it also happened when there was a love triangle around Percy, Annabeth and Rachel. Apparently, it has happened with—"

"Got it," said Frank, cutting her sentence short.

Narcissus sang a few more songs. Some were covers. Some were not. Some contained lots of dancing. Others none. Some were slow, some were fast, catchy, and made you want to dance. All of them made girls faint, some more than others.

"I'm sorry, people, lovers of me, but it's time for Narcissus to depart!" cried Narcissus dramatically. A few nymphs started to fan their faces. "Oh my gods!" one of them shrieked. "He's leaving?"

"One last song before I go, one you may all know," continued Narcissus. His five back-up dancers walked back onto the stage... somehow. (Floating forty feet off the ground, remember?) They each looked equally exhausted, but were grinning ear to ear. One nymph took a long swing of water from her water bottle.

_"Sorry for party rocking..."_

Percy involuntarily looked around to find the source of the sound. The voice hadn't come from Narcissus for sure, but then from where? The music that went with the song started to play.

"I'll also be having a little help from a god you may know," said Narcissus, "and a mortal you may know. The story of how we got him is a long one. I could spare a few minutes to tell you all when I'm signing autographs. In the lobby. Hint, hint."

There was a giant race for the elevators.

"That said," finished Narcissus, "please welcome two not-so-quite-as-handsome-as-me men, Heracles the Great and Paris from Troy!"

Percy remembered the story of Paris. And Hercules. Paris' story involved an apple painted gold, a choice between three goddesses, and a deadly war that lasted ten years. He was killed by Heracles' friend, Philoctetes, by Heracles' own arrows. Percy wasn't sure how Paris would react to this, but apparently he didn't know about it, because his ghost wasn't trying to strangle Heracles.

Well, it didn't really matter, anyway. Paris and Narcissus were two of the handsomest men to ever live. Heracles was probably the greatest hero (and jerk) of all history.

And they were all in the same place. At once. Percy was surprised only half the girls passed out.

Paris was a mortal, obviously. Percy guessed he had escaped the Underworld like Narcissus had, not the tragic and eventful occurrence Narcissus was talking about. Heracles was obviously brought over from his home in the Meditarean.

Going back, now. The funky _doo do do do do doo do do do do_ beat continued to play. A long silver light shone to the far left, another to the far right. On one Hephaestus podium was Paris, prince of Troy, and Heracles, god of being a jerk. The rest of the lights blinked on and off in tune with the beat of the music. Percy couldn't help but notice the nymphs were gone.

"_Yo! I'll be up in the party, looking for a hottie to bone!"_ chanted Narcissus.

_"I gotta drink in my hand, and it just called buffalo!"_ yelled Heracles. The light hitting him in the face changed to gold.

_"Popping bottles in the house with models in the V.I.P.!"_ sang Paris, swinging his hand up (palm pointed down, arm pointed up) next to his head for every letter in VIP.

_"All the girls makin' out for the whole damn club to see!"_ finished off Narcissus.

_"Let's go!"_ said Heracles quickly, and then added, "_People always say that my music's loud!"_

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_ he, Paris and Narcissus sang.

_"Neighbors complain sayin' 'turn it down'!"_ added Paris, really emphasizing the last three words.

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

_"Haters don't like, we got the spotlight!"_ continued Narcissus.

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

_"When they talk s***, we just be like!"_

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

By then, Paris and Heracles were both at the stage. They're HP's floated off while the stage flew higher and higher. The music continued to dubstep.

_"Baby-baby-baby-baby, I'm awfully crazy!"_ said Paris.  
_"Off Ciroc, off Patrone s*** whatever's tasty!"_

_"We don't got no manners, hanging off the rafters,_  
_Let's go drink for drink a hundred bucks she on the lasters!"_ continued Narcissus.

_"Check my style,"_ said Heracles. _"Take a good look, I'm fresh b****_  
_In my way with music so loud I'm deaf b****"_

_"Getting brained out redlight with people watching!"_ sang Paris.

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_ they chanted as one.

_"If you show up already tow up this is what you say;"_ added Narcissus.

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

_"And if you blacked out with your sack out, this is what you say;"_

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

_"And if you throw up in your hoe's cup, this is what you say;"_

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

_"And if she has a hissyfit 'cause you whiskeydick, this is what you say;"_

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

_"Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!"_ they continued.

_"I'm here for whenever the club sippin' buzz really drunk and I see a fat booty!"_ sang Narcissus. Percy figured that where ever Piper was right now, she would be holding her hands to her ears, singing, "La la la la la! I can't hear you!" In vain. (That was how loud the song was playing.) Piper was really sensitive to this kind of stuff.

_"Got to have it, I'm a grab it, it's a habit, automatic like uzi!"_ continued Heracles.

_"Uzi, with the sick flow make a chick go crazy and flash them tattas,"_ added Paris. Next to Percy, Annabeth winced.

_"It's Redfoo, the dude, a true party rockaaaah!_  
_I'm true to the game to this is called beerpong and I can't lose!"_ continued Narcissus.

_"I got a bunch of bad b****s in the back with some vodka on tap!_  
_And a bit of little of gray goose, ooh, oh yeah, we killin' s*** with our money!"_ added Heracles.

_"We deal legit so here is a sorry in advance!_  
_No hard feelings, b****!"_ finished Paris.

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

_"People always say that my music's loud!"_ started Narcissus.

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

_"Neighbors complain saying 'turn it down'!"_ added on Heracles.

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

_"Haters don't like, we got the spotlight!"_ finished Paris.

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

_"When they talk s***, we just be like-"_

_"Sorry for party rocking!"_

"Thank you!" shouted Narcissus. "Thanks for having me! Heracles, Paris, I apologize, but must go now. I have fans waiting." Then Narcissus somehow walked right off the stage. (Flying, remember?) Heracles followed him off. Paris waved once, flashed a blinding smile that made some girls turn red, and walked off as well. Then Dionysus appeared.

"Great guy, isn't he?" he asked the audience. "Soon we're going to go back to performances, and then we're going to have our special surprise! Cheers!" He raised a goblet of wine Percy hadn't realized he had been holding, drained it empty, and disappeared. The song "Nice to know you" started to play.

Although the majority of the party's population was now in the Empire State Building's lobby, all trying to get an autograph out of Narcissus.

* * *

**_Sorry for Party Rocking!_**

**The Paris and Heracles idea literally came to me as I was writing the sentence. I had no intention of putting them in until today. But it's a nice touch, no? I liked the idea as soon as I had it.**

**Me: This is an awesome cake! (Me and my dad were eating left-over homemade chocolate cake from my birthday.)**  
**Dad: Yeah!**  
**Me: (Sticks out hands to high-five. Dad continues to eat without noticing hand.) C'mon, don't leave me hanging.**  
**Dad: (High-fives hand.) I will never leave you hanging.**  
**Me: Even over the depths of Tartarus?**  
**Dad: 0_o**

**And this just happened. Everything that I just wrote above is word-for-word, I promise. (Also my dad's expression.)**

**Review. Peace. All I have to say.**


	17. 4 Minutes, and Frazel, FINALLY!

**Me: (Rereading MoA in hopes of finding HoH spoilers.)  
****Two hours later: (Still reading.)**

**And because I was so busy, I didn't have time to get the legal rights from Rick.**

**Dad: Alright, family, we need to plan our future trip to NY. What do you guys want to do while we're there  
****Me: I wanna go to the Empire State Building! (Gasp with excitement.) We could go to the 600th floor!  
****Mom: Uh... There are only 100 floors on the Empire State Building.  
****Me: No, there aren't. There are 600!  
****Sister: Uh, yeah, no, there are only 100. Deal with it.  
****Me: (Fuming.)**

**THEY DIDN'T BELIEVE ME! WHAT CRUEL WORLD IS THIS, WHEN FAMILYS DON'T TRUST THEIR OWN MEMBERS WITH THE TRUTH!**

**Sigh. I'm gonna go continue to fume now.**

* * *

**Frank**

Frank and Hazel were sitting to the side in silence, watching the party unfold. It was a sort of awkward silence, but not much, since they were both sharing a plate of some sort of purple fruit that looked horrible but tasted like the cookies his grandmother bought from the store. (She never bothered with making her own like a proper Granny.)

"Frank?" asked Hazel. Frank looked up.

"Mmhm?" he asked, mouth full.

"Do you want to perform together?" she continued.

Frank started to choke. It took several agonizing minutes for him to recover.

"Like, us?" he asked. Maybe he had misunderstood the question. Maybe she had explained it incorrectly. Maybe she wasn't asking him to do what he thought she said. "Go up and... sing?" The last word came out a little higher than he had intended.

"Yeah," said Hazel coolly, as if her boyfriend just hadn't been choking. She picked up one of the fruit slices with her fingers. "I did it before; remember? You did it as well."

Frank remembered that. He hadn't been so keen of the idea.

"But, again?" he asked. "You did it once, I did it once, isn't that good enough?"

"Well, if you don't want to do it, that's fine," said Hazel, leaning back in her seat and plopping the fruit from her fingers into her mouth. "Just an idea," she grumbled ever so quietly.

Frank hesitated. He didn't want to make Hazel think he was a chicken. He sighed.

"Fine," he grumbled.

Hazel leapt to her feet and hugged Frank tightly. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she cried.

Frank hugged her back.

* * *

**Grover**

Juniper and Grover were having pretty much the same conversation. Except it was Juniper choking, and instead of purple fruit it was on a drink of water.

And instead of being all skeptical, she started to jump up and down with excitement.

"Ohmigods, YES!" she cried so loudly Grover was taken aback. "I thought you would never ask! C'mon." She grabbed Grover by the hand and pulled him away. He was wondering what he had dragged himself into.

* * *

**Hazel**

Hazel was excited. She could tell Frank was a little nervous, so she slipped her hand into his and squeezed lightly. Frank turned to face her and smiled. Hazel responded with a grin.

"Don't worry," she said. "The song we chose is going to blow their socks off."

It was true. Hazel had had this song in her head for weeks, and she was dying to duet it was Frank. It sort of made sense as well. Too make Frank feel better, she started to hum it. Frank grinned and replied with his own hum. Soon they were both humming on the stage, waiting for Jimmy to do his usual countdown till the end of the time-stop.

They had to wait less than they had expected. They were halfway through the song, when Jimmy started, "Ten!"

Hazel quickly returned to her spot at the back of the stage, away from view... for the moment. Frank sighed and started a quick jog up to the right HP of the stage. Hazel double checked her headset mike was in place, and then triple-checked it. She pulled her hair back, then checked her headset again, sneaking a glance at Frank.

"Three!"

The lights faded off Frank. Now they were both equally invisible.

"One!"

Noise returned. After such a long time in silence, Hazel found the chatter of the living quite loud. She winced.

She saw Dionysus walk up on the stage and start to do his usual introduction. Hazel sighed.

_C'mon, c'mon..._

The music started to play, and Hazel started to count. She rubbed her clammy and shaking palms against her pant leg to remove the nervous sweat. _Five... Six..._

Hazel tried to sneak a glance at Frank again, but she couldn't see where he was. She continued to search in vain, still counting down.

_Nine... Ten... Come on, hurry up!_

Hazel faced the front again and readied herself to walk back out into the blinding lights.

_Thirteen... Now!_

_"I can see you talking_  
_But all I can hear is smell," _started Hazel, walking out into view. She spotted Piper in the crowd, returning from the washroom after learning Narcissus was gone.

_"Turn the volume up one time _  
_The confidence is loud._  
_Hiding in the shadows_  
_All you do is hold the walls up,_  
_Baby what's the hold up?_  
_What's up with all these walls?" _Hazel wanted to sneak a look at where Frank was supposed to come out, except she couldn't do that without bringing attention to it.

_"You can feel the rhythm_  
_But you're body's being modest._  
_Trapped in your cocoon _  
_but underneath you are a goddess," _continued Frank from twenty feet away from the stage and ten feet above it, lights flashing in his face. He slowly started to descend. Hazel fanned her face dramatically.

_"Baby you're the hottest. _  
_I'm just being honest,"_ he continued. Hazel knew this was just part of the song, and his wink at her was just for show, but she felt really elevated when he said this. So happy that she broke into this wild grin that confused some people in the crowd who noticed it.

_"You should be released, _  
_Back into the wild!" _Frank finished.

_"It's time!" _they sang as one_.  
"Time to let the predator out!  
Cuz it's what you're about,_  
_You're a killer beast, you're an animal,_  
_And it's easy to see, you're an animal."_

_"Tonight!...  
Everyone will know what you are,_  
_You'll be out of the dark!" _Hazel snuck a glance at Frank and smiled.  
_"When you're watching me, _  
_You're an animal, and it's easy to see,  
You're an animal."_

_"Moving with your instincts_  
_All you hear is but that heartbeat," _started Frank. Hazel placed both hands on her chest and threw them up and down on the spot twice.

_"Taking your position_  
_To the hype in the story._  
_Feeding off the spirits  
And the people are arousing,  
I can feel you pouncing,_  
_Damn, the room is bouncing." _Frank inched closer to Hazel with each word. Once he was close enough to touch her, he grabbed her hand and twirled her on the spot as if they were dancing Salsa.

_"Meet me with the eyes,_  
_Ready to play," _Hazel chanted, pushing off of Frank, and walking forward.  
_"See me in the eyes,_  
_I'll be your prey!" _Hazel placed the flat of her fingers on her temples.

_"No more hesitation,_  
_The train has left the station,_  
_You should be released, _  
_Back into the wild!" _added on Frank, stepping up to meet Hazel. He slipped her hand into hers.

_"It's time!" _they sang, throwing their three arms up.  
_"Time to let the predator out,  
Cuz it's what you're about!_  
_You're a killer beast, you're an animal,_  
_And it's easy to see, you're an animal._

_"Tonight!...  
Everyone will know what you are,_  
_You'll be out of the dark!_  
_When you're watching me, _  
_You're an animal, and it's easy to see,  
You're an animal."_

_"Tear it up!" _yelled Frank, and immediately afterwards, Hazel started to chant;

_"I bring out the animal in you!_  
_You bring out the animal in me!"_

_"I bring out the animal in you!  
You bring out the animal in me!" _When she sang this time, the mic made it so that it sounded like two Hazels were singing.

_"The animal in me!" _shouted Frank.

_"I bring out the animal in you!  
You bring out the animal in me!" _Hazel sang, with a "_yeah_!" and _"the animal in me!"_ from Frank.

_"I bring out the animal in you!  
You bring out the animal in-"_

Then the music continued to play. Hazel skipped to the back of the stage, wherever she stepped a shower of real pink sparks exploded. They didn't hurt Hazel. In fact, she couldn't even feel them. Frank followed her, he sparks being blue. Hazel threw back her head and laughed. Just before they were due to start singing again, they grabbed hands and walked back to the front, waving with their free arm at the crowd.

_"It's time! Time to let the predator out._  
_Cuz it's what you're about!" _they sang.

_"You're a killer beast, you're an animal,"_ sang only Hazel, the double mode switched back on.

_"And it's easy to see!" _interupted Frank.

_"And it's easy to see, you're an animal," _finished Hazel.

_"You're an animal!" _repeated Frank.

_"Tonight!" _sang Hazel, sparks flying off the side of the stage.

_"Tonight!" _echoed Frank just a few octaves lower.

_"Everyone will know what you are," _they sang together.

_"You'll be out of the dark!" _added on Hazel, alone.  
_"When you're watching me, _  
_You're an animal, and it's easy to see-"_

_"You'll be out of the dark!" _interrupted Frank again.

_"When you're watching me," _together they sang.  
_"You're an animal."_

_"And it's easy to see,_  
_You're an animal," _finished Hazel, the music dying to a stop. Then Hazel jumped into Frank's arms, wrapping her lags around his waist and throwing her arms around his neck. Her headset fell off. **(AN: I can also see that in a sketch!) **

"See," she said, speaking to his face. "That wasn't too hard." Then she kissed him and threw up her arms, being victorious.

* * *

**Juniper**

Sure, the Frazel performance was cute, and the quick kiss at the end made quite a few Aphrodite kids "awwwww" as if they were a pair of adorable puppies. But Juniper couldn't wait for Grover and her to perform. Oh, and the other guy. But mostly she and Grover.

Juniper checked her makeup in the mirror one last time. Beside her, Grover sighed.

"Juniper," he said. "You look lovely." Then he casually shook free the mirror from Juniper's grasp. Juniper sighed dramatically.

"Fine," she said, tucking away her makeup kit behind the stage, away from view. Then she leaned forward and whispered in Grover's ear, "Why did we have to invite _him?_"

Grover sighed. "Do we really have to have this conversation again?" he asked. Juniper raised her arms in surrender.

"Fine," she said. "But if he ruins everything-"

"He won't," Grover reassured her. "Now, why don't we practice it one last time before the time-stop ends."

Juniper smiled and swayed toward Grover, grabbing onto his arm. "Okay," she whispered, then pushed off, making Grover loose his balance and stumble sideways.

The satyr at the front of the stage turned around. "What's going on back there?"

Juniper rolled her eyes to the top of her head. "Why, you actually care. At least it's a start."

Instead of replying, like Juniper expected him to, the satyr just grunted and faced the front.

Juniper would have rolled her eyes if she hadn't already rolled them.

* * *

**Lou Ellen**

Lou Ellen loved music. When she was told she was a demigod, if it wasn't for the fact that she knew her magician father was a mortal, she would have guessed she was the daughter of Apollo, the god of music. So when she learned about this party, she was really enthusiastic about it.

"Thank you, Hazel and Frank, for that touching song," said Dionysus. The guy didn't even need a mike. That was how loud his voice was. "Next we have a particular trio, singing a song that pretty much describes all about what this party is about, saving the world! Please welcome, GROVER, JUNIPER, AND _COACH HEDGE_!"

Lou Ellen blinked. _Coach Hedge...? _

She didn't have time to finish the thought. The two notes and chord signaled the beginning of the song. Up high in the sky, an assortment of different coloured lights hit him in the face. He was wearing dark sunglasses that hid his eyes, and a sideways baseball cap on his curly mop

_"I'm outta time, and all I got is 4 minutes,_  
_4 minutes, eh!" _he chanted.

_"I'm outta time, and all I got is 4 minutes,_  
_4 minutes, eh!"_

_"I'm outta time, and all I got is 4 minutes,_  
_4 minutes, eh!"_

_"I'm outta time, and all I got is 4 minutes,_  
_4 minutes, eh!"_

_"Come on..  
Ha ha..._  
_Yeah..._  
_Ha ha..._  
_Breakdown, come on!" _he continued.

_"Hey!"_ a different voice from the stage called. Lou Ellen turned to look, but didn't see anyone there.

_"Uh,_  
_Come on!_  
_Juniper!" _the same voice called.

"_Come on boy, I've been waiting for somebody to pick up my stroll," _said a female voice that Lou Ellen recognized as one of the nymphs at camp, Juniper.

"_Now don't waste time, give me desire, tell me how you wanna roll," _the other voice called, and suddenly, Lou Ellen could put a face to it; Grover, Juniper's boyfriend.

"_I want somebody to speed it up for me then take it down slow,_  
_There's enough room for both," _sang Juniper.

"_Girl I can hit you back just gotta show me where it's at,_  
_Are you ready to go? Are you ready to go?" _asked Grover, and suddenly they appeared on the stage. Juniper on the right side, wearing a plain white dress, and Grover, well, dressed up almost identically like Coach Hedge, minus the baseball cap.

_"If you want it,_  
_You've already got it._  
_If you thought it,_  
_It better be what you want," _they dueted.

_"If you feel it,_  
_It must be real just,_  
_Say the word and,_  
_I'm gonna give you what you want!"_

"_Time is waiting," _sang Juniper.

"_We only got four minutes to save the world!" _cried Grover.

_"No hesitating," _added Juniper through a smile.  
_"Grab a boy-"_

_"Grab your girl!" _yelled Grover, grabbing Juniper's hand.

"_Time is waiting," _continued Juniper, blushing ever so slightly so the green skin on her cheeks turned brown.

"_We only got four minutes to save the world!"_

_"No hesitating..."_

"_We only got four minutes - huh, four minutes,_  
_So keep it up, keep it up,_  
_Don't be a prima, Juniper," _sang Grover.

"_You gotta get em' a heart._  
_Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock!" _Juniper rocked her index finger sideways, back and forth, as she said the last line.

"_That's right keep it up, keep it up._  
_Don't be a prima, Juniper."_

"_You gotta get em' a heart._  
_Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock..."_

_"Sometimes I think what I need is a you intervention," _continued Juniper. _"Yeah..."_

"_And I know I can tell that you like it, and that it's good,_  
_By the way that you move._  
_Oh hey," _Grover added.

"_The road to Hades is paved with good intentions," _sang Juniper, changing the lyrics slightly. "_Yeah!"_

"_But if I die tonight at least I can say I did what I wanted to do,  
Tell me how 'bout you?" _

"_If you want it,_  
_You've already got it._  
_If you thought it,_  
_It better be what you want," _they dueted.

_"If you feel it,_  
_It must be real just,_  
_Say the word and,_  
_I'm gonna give you what you want."_

_"Time is waiting," _sang Juniper.

_"We only got four minutes to save the world!"_

"_No hesitating," _continued Juniper.  
_"Grab a boy-"_

"_Go grab your girl!" _interrupted Grover.

_"Time is waiting," _sang Juniper.

"_We only got four minutes to save the world," _added Grover.

"_No hesitating..."_

"_We only got four minutes, huh, four minutes,_  
_So keep it up, keep it up,_  
_Don't be a prima, Juniper," _sang Grover.

_"You gotta get em' a heart._  
_Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock." _Juniper did the same move she had done before.

"_That's right, keep it up, keep it up,_  
_Don't be a prima, Juniper," _continued Grover.

_"You gotta get em' a heart." _Juniper placed two hands on where her heart was.  
"_Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock..."_

_"Breakdown!" _sang a voice they hadn't heard for a long time - Coach Hedge's! Lou Ellen had almost forgotten all about him. Somehow, he managed to get to the stage without anyone noticing. "_Yeah..."_

"_Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock..." _chanted Juniper, the music slowly fading.

"_Yeah, uh," _continued Hedge.

"_Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock..."_

_"I've only got four minutes to save the world," _finished Coach Hedge.

Overall, Lou Ellen thought of it as a good performance.

"Thank you!" cried Juniper, waving to the crowd as if she had just won an award that the audience chose for her. "Thank you!"

"That was lovely!" complimented Dionysus, leaping onto the stage. Then he addressed the audience. "Let's have a big round of applause for that wonderful show!"

Applause.

"And now, we have one more performance and one more song until we have our special surprise," said Dionysus. "The next person is doing a single. Has anyone even done that yet? Anyway, please put your hands together for-" Dionysus looked at the sheet of paper in his hand and went to announce it, but then did a double take and stared at the page a little longer. People started to murmur amongst themselves.

"Uh... What name is that?" asked Dionysus to Grover, who was still on the stage. Grover reluctantly read the name, then re-read it. He scratched the back of his head. "Must be some sort of mistake," he muttered.

"A mistake?" asked Dionysus.

"No, it isn't."

Everyone turned to find the source of the sound. There, standing just below the stage, microphone in hand, was Reyna.

* * *

**CLIFFHANGER. MUAHAHAHAHA! And if you don't think she shouldn't sing, then read on! Because she has an excellent reason why that doesn't involve blackmail. **

**Kristina: Hazel  
****JC Chasez: Frank  
****Madonna: Juniper  
****Justin Timberlake: Grover  
****Timbaland: Coach Hedge  
****Songs: Animal and 4 Minutes.**

**I'm sorry for any mistakes in the song "Animal." I was using three different lyrics along with my own common sense, so there are bound to be at least a couple.**

**And I'm not a huge supporter of Frazel, but I think it's a really sweet couple and I think it should be shipped. (Leo and Hazel? I don't really believe in that.) I can tell Frazel isn't a Percabeth type of couple, where everyone is supposed to be romantic and stuff, but is like the few kisses here and there kind of couple, and the let's-go-walk-in-the-snow-and-then-go-to-Tim-Hortons-for-a-nice-hot-chocolate-and-then-talk-a-while kind of couple. So I made it FLUFFY!**

**Review! Peace! Bookworm is out.**


	18. Reyna Reveals All

**THANK YOU PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED! COOKIES... COOKIES FOR ALL!**

**I'm not feeling creative today. Or if I am, all my creativity is going to the actual story. So... Disclaimer: Me own nada. Including the songs. I forgot to add that in previous chapters. So I'll do it now in big letters to make up for that.**

**_THE SONGS ARE OWNED BY WHOEVER WROTE THEM_**.

**There. **

**And why didn't anyone vote on my poll? SHAMEZIES!**

**Here comes Reyna! (How do you pronounce her name? Re-i-na? Re-ja? N-i-a? I have no clue.) **

**_THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO EVERYONE WHO VOTED ON MY POLL BECAUSE THEY AREN'T LAZY BUTTS._**

* * *

**Reyna**

It had all started when Reyna was at the snack table talking to her older sister, Hylla. Guess what they were talking about? Boys.

"Like, we don't _hate _them," Hylla was explaining to her trying-to-be-interested-but-failing younger sister. "Just... Think of boys as cows. They're useless we force some work into them."

"Right," said Rena a little skeptically. Hylla caught her expression.

"You like someone," she told her with her eyebrow raised in a cocky ha-I'm-older way.

"No," Reyna snapped, then softened her voice. "Not anymore, at least. I've gotten over him."

Hylla pulled over a chair and sat on it the wrong way. "It's Jason, isn't it."

Reyna nodded with a sad sigh.

"Well, then, go talk to him," said Hylla, punching Reyna's arm playfully.

"He already has a girlfriend," Reyna muttered, looking down.

"So?" asked Hylla. "You can still be friends. If you're over him, at least." She winked.

"I'm not crazy over him anymore. It's just an every-girl-gets-it crush," explained Reyna, looking up. Realizing something, she then gave Hylla a strange look. "Since when are you an expert of boys?" she asked. Hylla gave her a small smile.

"First I turned them into guinea pigs," she said. "Then I helped enslave them. I've had my share of boys in this lifetime." She pointed at herself.

Reyna nodded quickly. No more info needed.

"But I can't even talk to him nowadays," Reyna continued. "Whenever I come along, Piper quickly comes and shoos him of in the other direction. It's like she wants to keep him away from me."

"Because she does," sighed Hylla, throwing her head back. "For a praetor, you can be really clueless sometimes. She knows you like her boyfriend, and she knows you have the potential to steal him back. You have to go talk to him!"

"But how can I if I can't even get close enough to call out?" demanded Reyna a little louder than she had intended. A few people started to stare. Reyna lowered her voice. "It's impossible."

"Well, then, I guess you'll just have to think of another way to speak to him," said Hylla, resting her chin on the end of the chair. When Reyna didn't understand what she meant, Hylla sighed pathetically, got up, and grab her sister by the side of the face and turned her head to face the stage where Athena, Annabeth and Nike were singing _Turn Me On. _Reyna was horrified.

"You want me to get up there and _sing?_" Her voice was a high shrill.

"If you have any other ideas, go for it," replied Hylla. "But for now, this is your best chance." She patted Reyna on the back and then she walked away, leaving a flabbergasted Reyna stuttering for words.

Over the course of the Narcissus show, Reyna thought about her sister's idea. It was stupid, extremely stupid, but it was worth a try. At least, she hoped it was. But first, she had to _choose _a song.

She considered_ We are never getting back together_ by Taylor Swift, but that sounded a little too harsh. _Love you like a love song _and _You belong with me_ were cool songs Reyna knew and liked, but she decided against them. They displayed her inner emotions a little too well. What she wanted to tell Jason was, "Hey boy, listen up. You're cute and all, but I am over you. So in your face!"

But did she really want that? If she did do that, then she would be also telling Jason somewhere between that sass that she didn't want him anymore, so it was safe for him and Piper could keep dating. And she did _not _want that.

Maybe she could be a sweet girl and be all, "Oh, Jason, I love you dearly, but I see you are with another girl, a cuter, prettier, not-as-smart-as-me girl, but if she is the one you choose, I am happy for both of you. *Insert cute girl with cute pigtails wearing a cute dress holding a cute white bunny smiling a cute smile here*"

Reyna wrinkled her nose at the thought of this. Uh, major ew.

But Reyna had once heard a song that displayed those things in the lyrics, but not in a cute, humble girly way. It said something more or less like, "Jason, I liked you. And I still do. But you are gone now, and that is fine by me. Get married. Have kids. Whatever."

Reyna almost clapped her hands in joy. It was perfect!

All she had to do was find the sign-up sheet...

...

And that was how she got her name being called. She had the lyrics memorized, and even startled Apollo during the time stop by appearing with her own set of clothes (purple sequined top that stretched over black legging with knee high two inch heel black boots and startling violet earrings as well as a gazillion bracelets on her arm) and her own performance effects on a disk. The time stop only lasted two minutes.

When it did stop, though, the music didn't start automatically. Reyna stood on the stage with her normal clothes on and her microphone in hand saying, "Hey guys! This is a song you may know, Katy Perry, yay, but thanks for thinking that I wouldn't get up on the stage! That really does make me feel better. I just wanted to say that this song is dedicated to my sister, Hylla, Queen of the Amazons."

Reyna pointed in Hylla's direction, and a light flashed on her sister's face. "She is the one who persuaded me into this," continued the praetor. "But this song is also dedicated to my ex-boyfriend, Jason. Hope you like it." Her voice choked on the word _ex. _Jason looked equally as surprised as everyone else did. _Jason? _Reyna imagined them thinking. _Why Jason...? _

No time to keep pondering, thought Reyna, tightening the grip on her microphone. Here it goes...

The all too familiar blackout didn't happen. Instead, a foggy but odorless smoke curled out from the bottom of the stage, tickling the spots on Reyna's leg that weren't protected. The lights turned pink and started to spin. Reyna looked at the crowd below her and for a moment thought if it was too late to chicken out. But the music started to play, and she knew it was too late. She closed her eyes, trying to calm her nerves, then opened them again, along with the first few lines of the slightly modified song.

_"Summer that we fought the evil guy,_  
_We made out in the Mess Hall to Radiohead._  
_And on my 14th Birthday,_  
_We got matching tattoos," _Reyna sang, tapping the tattoo of SPQR and the four lines underneath it. She had appeared at the top of an eight step stairway that materialized from nowhere. Now she was walking down, the step previous from the one she had just been on disappearing.

"_Used to steal the spare nectar,  
And climb to the hills._  
_Talk about tomorrow,_  
_Practicing with our swords._  
_Never thought that one day,_  
_Juno would return, ooh oh oh," _continued Reyna, finally touching the floor.

_"In another life!" _sang Reyna, stomping her foot against the floor softly. Sparks and a thick smoke that instantly evolved around her flew off from where the heels hit. The smoke dispersed, leaving her standing in the middle of a show of sparks, now wearing her purple/black outfit. (Ah... the advantages of magic.)

_"I would be your girl," _she continued, now just stepping closer to the stage.  
_"We'd keep all our promises_  
_Be us against the world!" _

_"In another life!_  
_I would make you stay._  
_So I don't have to say_  
_You were the one that got away."_

"_The one that got away..." _

Reyna caught sight of the TV screens on either side of the stage. Both were showing an identical slideshow of old pictures of her and Jason. What? She hadn't asked for that! There was the picture of her just arriving at camp... A picture of Bobby, Dakota, Gwen, Jason and Reyna during the Titan war... A map of Camp Jupiter...

_"I was June and you were my only god,  
Never one without the other, we made a pact—" _(This wasn't true. It was just part of the original song, though Reyna sometimes felt as if it had actually happened.)

_"Sometimes when I miss you,_  
_I put those records on! Whoa!" _(Another untrue but felt true idea.)

_"Someone said you got a replacment tattoo." _Reyna tapped her neck as if indicating a nacklace.  
_"Saw you at the Forum, singing the Blues._  
_It's time to face the music,_  
_I'm no longer your muse."_

Reyna spotted Hylla in the crowd. While doing this, she caught sight of more pictures on the screens, but this time, they were all of Jason and Piper. Jason and Piper at CHB's beach watching a sunset... Jason and Piper sharing a plate of chips on the Argo II... Jason and Piper holding hands... Jason and Piper kissing...

_"But in another life!" _sang Reyna, forcing herself not to have an emotional breakdown. This song was not going as she had hoped. Sure, the people loved it, but it was saying everything she wanted and didn't want to be heard; everything being true.

_"I would be your girl," _she continued.  
_"We'd keep all our promises,_  
_Be us against the world."_

_"In another life!_  
_I would make you stay._  
_So I don't have to say_  
_You were the one that got away."_

_"The one that got away."_

Reyna wanted Jason to feel guilty of leaving her. She wanted him to feel misery, seeing Reyna in misery. She wanted Jason to regret his decision of choosing Piper over her, a girl he had only known 8 months while she had known him for 48. She wanted...

What did she want?

_"The o-o-o-o-o-one!  
__The o-o-o-o-o-one!_  
_The o-o-o-o-o-one!_  
_The one that got away!"_

"_All this money can't buy me a time machine," _continued Reyna.  
_"Can't replace you with a million rings!_  
_I should've told you what you meant to me!_  
_'Cause now I pay the price..."_

_"In another life!" _sang Reyna.  
_"I would be your girl,_  
_We'd keep all our promises,_  
_Be us against the world."_

_"In another life!_  
_I would make you stay._  
_So I don't have to say_  
_You were the one that got away!"_

_"The one that got away..."_

_"The o-o-o-o-o-one!  
The o-o-o-o-o-one!  
The o-o-o-o-o-one!"_

Reyna was now at the edge of a forty feet drop onto the heads of immortals. She looked forward, scanning the crowd for a face she knew all too well; Jason's.

_"In another life!_  
_I would make you stay!_  
_So I don't have to say,_  
_You were the one that got away."_

Reyna caught sight of Jason, staring at her. Their eyes locked.

When Reyna spoke, it was barely more than a whisper.

_"The one that got away..."_

On the screens, a picture taken from behind of Jason and Reyna walking side-by-side with their armour on, swords out. Reyna's head rested on Jason's shoulder. Where someone got that picture, Reyna didn't even stop to ponder. She nearly slammed the the microphone down and ran away, tears streaming down her face.

* * *

**OH, GODS, I FEEL SO TERRIBLE EVER SINCE THE LAST AUTHOR'S NOTE. SORRY PEOPLE THAT I SHAMED! TO MAKE UP FOR IT, THE NEXT CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO EVERYONE WHO DIDN'T VOTE ON THE POLL. Because that is how nice I am! *Insert cute girl with cute pigtails wearing a cute dress holding a cute white bunny smiling a cute smile here***

**The One That Got Away got 3 votes  
You Belong With Me got 1 vote  
Love You Like A Love Song got 1 vote  
I Want You Back got no votes.**

**Only five. I know I said that I am sorry people, but SHAME ON YOU! AND ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WAS ME! **

**And I know the modified version doesn't rhyme. And I know hardly anything was changed. Don't pester me about it! And I know only the verses were changed. IT WAS MEANT TO BE THAT WAY!**


	19. Gods or Goddess

**Disclaimer; You know what it is.**

**Some people (most people) are probably wondering why Reyna overreacted last chapter. Truth is, overreacting is human nature. Sad? Cry. Mad? Punch someone. Upset? Punch someone while crying. Things like that.**

**And if you're not convinced, a few examples... **

**1. My friend got let out of school early because she was sick... THE SMELL IN THE BATHROOM WAS TOO GREAT.  
****2. My friend cried in class today because of the results of an English presentation... THE RESULT WAS TOO HIGH.  
****3. I had a huge spaz that involved quite a few teachers... BECAUSE I MISSED LUNCH.  
****4. A classmate cried all fifty minutes of break... BECAUSE THE MATH TEST WAS TOO LONG.**

**See? EVERYONE overreacts, even me. And everything, I mean _everything _I just wrote down happened in the past 11 months. (Even if I exaggerated number 2 just a little bit... But only number two, Author's Honour.) ****And if you still don't believe me, NeonHedgeHog has the perfect explication for why Reyna ran away already written out in his or her review. Go to Mount Olympus Dance Party reviews and check it out.**

**I know some people who are Jasper crazy. For the second time, JASPER IS NOT BREAKING UP! (Is it Jasper of Jiper? Hmm...) **

**_AS MUCH AS I WISH THEY HAD VOTED, THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO ANYONE WHO DIDN'T VOTE. BECAUSE THAT SHOWS HOW NICE I AM._**

**And here is the chapter you've all been waiting for... **

* * *

**Piper**

Piper was a little worried. For Reyna.

Piper didn't know Reyna still liked Jason! She thought she was over him. Piper seriously wished she could hate Reyna, but she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her. When Reyna had ran away, Piper looked up at her boyfriend. He didn't move. The only person who bothered go after Reyna was her sister, Hylla. Piper started to go tell Jason to find Reyna, to apologize or something, but that was then Dionysus walked up on the stage.

"Mid-life love crisis," he muttered. "Teenage drama. As if I don't get enough of it at camp." He talked back to the audience. "After that interesting turn of events, we're ready for our second special event for you guys!"

Suddenly, all the lights except the ones on Dionysus faded out. A dramatic fog overcame the crowd. A slow, tension-making tune started to play. "A game played for millennia..." started Dionysus. "A competition to prove the best...

"With only one winner, one team.

"The tributes must race to the end, prove their skills, show their power, display their intelligence. All over a series of challenges that, when finished, will prove one team mightier than the others. Shine one in the spotlight, the rest in darkness.

"Who will it be? Who will be the winner, the triumph of their team? The one to lead them to victory? The victor over them all?

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Gods or Goddess."

The lights flashed back to life, displaying bright, flashing colours. On the screens, a live five-second video of an extremely surprised Zeus flashed on. It died out, then Hera... Poseidon... Athena... All twelve Olympians plus Hades (in the Underworld who had no idea what was going on) and Hestia were all taken surprise five second videos. When every god or goddess mentioned had their turn, one screen with a blue background showed the pictures of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus and Dionysus. On the other screen with a pink background were the faces of Demeter, Athena, Hestia, Artemis, Aphrodite and Hera.

"What is this?" demanded Artemis from the crowd. It was obvious no one except Dionysus knew about the Gods or Goddess game. Even Apollo, the DJ, seemed surprised.

"Gods or Goddess!" exclaimed Dionysus. "The ultimate, godly version of Battle of the Sexes! Come on up, lucky... uh... tributes!" he decided.

"But that's not fair!" exclaimed Athena.

"What isn't fair?" asked Dionysus.

"The boys have eight tributes! We have only six!"

"I, unfortunately, am not playing," said Dionysus, his picture sliding off the screens above. "I am host! And Hades isn't here." The picture of Hades slid of the screen as well.

"Okay," shrugged Athena, walking up on the stage. In the top left corner of her picture up on the girl's screen, a large yellow number one appeared, officially marking her the leader of the girl's team.

"Hey! I should be number one!" cried Hera, and she ran up on the stage, being marked number two.

"Ha! You snooze you lose, grandma," laughed Athena. Piper figured if anyone un-immortal said this, Hera would blast them to bits.

Soon, all the mentioned gods were up on the stage. Hermes was leader for his group, with Apollo co-captain as number two.

"I would now as you kindly to change into the Greek version of yourselves, if needed. Just so things aren't as complicated," said Dionysus. Three gods and two goddesses did so.

"Thank you!" cried Dionysus. "Now this is how the game works. Each team will throw a die—the team captain being the die thrower; co-captain will throw if the captain is out of the game or can't roll for whatever reason. Each side of the dice holds the face of one god or goddess. The lucky winner for each team will show up on the screens. Those two gods will come up and then will throw another die to see which game they're competing in." He smiled a little cruelly. "Oh, and if you touch the die, you're out of the game. For good. With a few sixty-degree burns."

Piper wanted to point out burns only went up to three degrees, but then realized in the godly world, there must be up to a thousand.

Dionysus took out three dice from his pocket and laid them out in a row on his palm. He pressed the pads of his fingers on his other hand onto the dice, and they turned red. He turned toward where the girls were assembled on the right side of the stage. "Ladies first," he decreed.

Athena took a cautious step forward. She closed her eyes, and all of a sudden, one of the die shot upwards. There was no telling where it went. A few people started to scream.

"Oh gods," muttered Athena and Piper at the same time.

The die fell literally a foot away from Piper. It sank at least five meters into the ground before coming to a stop. Piper cautiously peered down the crater. The red die was nowhere to be found, but a new face was up on the girl's screen. Hera.

Hermes stepped up from his spot to receive his die. What happened next was similar to what happened with Athena's; it flew upwards the second it left Dionysus' palm. More screaming.

"Oh, did I mention they're programed to do that?" Dionysus asked.

Hermes slapped his forehead with the heel of his hand. There was a small blast from around ten meters away from where Piper was standing. She guessed the second die had landed.

Sure enough, a face appeared on the boy's screen. It was Ares'.

Dionysus smiled. "Well, then, Hera, as you are one of our lucky winners, I ask of you to do the honours, and choose the game you will compete in. Don't worry, this one won't fly off." He extended his arm to her.

The eight-sided die started to shakily lift of Dionysus' palm, turning red like the two previous ones. It carefully lowered itself one foot from the floor of the stage, where it fell abruptly, and started to roll.

Rolling... Rolling... Stop.

Two identical photos of a boulder, a long sheet of paper, and scissors appeared on each screen.

"Rock paper scissors?" asked Piper to no one. "What kind of game is that?"

"Rock paper scissors!" Dionysus seemed to echo. The place was so quiet that it seemed logical to Piper that Apollo placed a faint _cricket, cricket _noise.

"THE GODLY VERSION!" added Dionysus.

_That _created an uproar.

Satisfied, the wine god jumped down from the stage even though it was a super high fall to the ground. He landed on his feet and walked to the middle of the party, gesturing for Ares and Hera to follow him. They did.

A large ring around twenty meters wide in any direction and as tall as a four-story building (with a closed roof, I might add) appeared where the three gods finally stopped.

"Here is how it works," explained Dionysus. "Rock paper scissors. Best out of three. Shake hands." Pause. "Make it entertaining, or I might have to ask Apollo to add some fire effects. And may the best gender win!" Dionysus disappeared, leaving Hera and Ares to fight it out in the cage.

"You wouldn't hurt your mother, would you?" taunted Hera, readying herself for the fight by stretching her arms out beside her in a way-too-cliché way.

"If it meant winning, I would," replied Ares, craning his neck sideways, forcing a horrible crack out of it.

"Let's get this over with," said Hera. "I have better things to do than play hand games with my baby."

All of a sudden, a loud grumbling appeared that shook the ground. The floor behind Hera started to rise, as if there was a monster trying to break out. Piper later learned that there was; a mean, eight meter tall monster made up of entirely rock.

"You wanna play hand games?" asked Ares. "Let's do it."

A long, thick piece of paper zoomed upwards from behind Ares. It kept mounting higher and higher, until it reached the top of the cage. But it didn't stop there. It curled down the side of the domed roof, straight for Hera's rock monster. It saw it coming, and grabbed the paper like a rope and smashed it on the ground, where he ripped it easily.

Another attack—he simply swatted it away. The next one he caught and ripped it in two like the paper it was. This went on and on for so long that Piper lost count. It wasn't until she saw Hera actually preform the moves the rock monster mimicked that Piper realized the rock monster wasn't doing this all a three millennia old mom, Piper had to admit Hera was pretty good at ripping paper.

But more white ropes kept coming, and they started to become thicker and longer and attack in larger quantities. Ares was learning from his mistakes. Soon, most of the cage was just a white blur headed for the beast made of rock. Even with Hera's help, it was all too much. The rock monster was going to lose and at the same time die...

...If he didn't get out of there.

Hera shot her eyes skyward (can you do that when technically you already are in the sky?) and the roof of the cage exploded. A few people close to the cage screamed and backed away from the large pieces of metal now raining down on them. Jason took this opportunity to grab Piper by the wrist and, together, they went up as close to the cage as they could get.

The rock monster dodged the white strips of paper that were now overwhelming the cage. Some of them now had protruding spikes, and were trying to inflict damage to the rock monster, but its skin acted like its own armour. Piper was vaguely reminded of the Greek hero, Achilles.

But every Achilles has a heel. A weak spot. And soon the paper strips found it. The bottom of the rock monster's feet. Apparently, rocks are very ticklish. Whenever the rock monster tried to kick away a strip of paper, it would brush against its foot and he would giggle. (_Very_ manly, Piper couldn't help but think.)

"Go!" ordered Hera, pointing toward the sky(ish). The rock monster saw what she meant; the hole in the cage. He swatted away the few remaining annoyers and made a running leap onto the cage, covering half of the climbing needed. The paper strips just went after him.

Piper winced and looked away, covering her eyes with her arm. But when Jason coaxed her to open her eyes - it was safe, the fighting was over, he said -Piper found the rock monster she had grown fond of all tied up, laying down on the floor in a position Piper didn't think was possible. Obviously dead. Hera was knelt next to it, muttering something. Ares stood by with his arms crossed, looking smug. The boys were hooting and cheering, and the girls just stood there, wishing they had something to say back.

Hera looked up, and the expression on her face showed fury and anger, nothing else. She got to her feet and the rock monster disappeared back into the ground, paper and all. The goddess waved her hand once and a large white monster holding a long machete in each hand appeared (Piper assumed it was "paper") to take the rock monster's place. Spikes protruded from the top of his head like a Mohawk, and it wore something that resembled a karate uniform. Everything on it was white, except for the black belt tied at its waist. It growled once and swung both machetes in a circle, waiting for its opponent.

"You're turn," said Hera, voice unusually steady.

Ares chose scissors. Red handled, ten meters tall, and with flames on the side of the pointiest blades Piper had ever seen. Ares didn't bother with a comeback; he just let his soldier charge.

Hera's paper monster ducked away from the first fatal blow, and swung with its first machete around at the scissors. It struck the red handle and simply bounced off. Piper guessed that meant the scissor's handle was its armour... Very strong armour.

The scissors leant back and karate roundhouse kicked the paper monster right across the face, assuming his leg was the blade. But he missed, and the paper only received a hard blow from the side of his blade. The momentum was enough, though, and the paper monster was knocked off its feet, machetes skidding across the floor of the arena. It seemed unconscious. The scissors turned back to Ares, as if waiting for another command. Ares just glared at Hera and gave her a tut-tut-I-won-again-you-really-are-out-of-practice look. The boys cheered... again—Even Jason. (Piper felt like punching him to get him to stop.)

The girls started to groan; the boys had won the first round, but all stopped when they saw Hera's watch-out-my-wicked-monster-is-about-to-hit-you-on-the-head-with-a-machete look to Ares. The boys stopped cheering as well, noticing Hera's look also.

Piper could see the confusion on Ares' face. Too late he understood what Hera meant. He spun around just in time to see the paper monster chuck both machetes in the direction of the pair of scissors. One missed, hit the wall, and its rebound combined with momentum knocked Ares off his feet as the hilt whacked him in the forehead as he turned to face it in surprise. The second machete went straight through the scissor's middle. It just had time to look down before it fell forward onto the ground, dead as a doornail.

"Don't give up on me like that," said Hera in a mocking tone.

("I thought scissors beat paper," whispered Piper to Jason quickly.

"This is the godly version," explained Jason a little dejected, having Ares just lose. "Anything can beat anything.")

"Alright, no more hand games," said Ares, getting to his feet. He waved a hand at the dead pair of enormous scissors in front of him, and it turned into a large pile of dust that disappeared with the nice kick Ares gave its pile. "Now we really play."

"But only one round left," sighed Hera. "Pity you'll have to lose this way."

Two monsters of rock and scissors appeared. Piper couldn't tell which one belonged to who. Everyone was cheering; either for Ares or Hera.

The rock and scissors monster were more horrifying than Piper could think was imaginable. The rock was composed entirely of boulders, just its forearm being similar to the size of monster truck wheels. Piper couldn't tell if it had an expression, but she was sure if it did, it would be scowling.

The scissor was terrifying as well. Instead of being _just _a pair of scissors, its master (whoever it was) made him resemble a person, legs being the blades, handle being were the head should be, and actually walking around. Piper couldn't be 100% sure, but she thought it resembled quite a bit like Chuck Norris.

The battle started immediately. The rock monster smashed it's fist onto the ground and it literally jumped up right where the scissor monster was previously, fifteen meters away. Piper swore she saw the exact same thing happen on _Pokémon. _

The scissors advanced slowly, as if ready to beat the crud out of the boulder monster. Three kicks in two seconds, but the boulders acted like an armour. The rock monster swung his arm back and got ready to strike the opponent. But his fist never connected. The pair of scissors dodged and swiped at the rock monster's face with his blade. When it scratched, it made a few sparks fly, but nothing worse. Piper was starting to think that the rock monster was indestructible. She would be rooting it on if she knew for a fact it was on the girl's side.

But the scissor monster was growing weary. Piper could tell it was strong, but it wasn't immortal. And Hera was growing tenser by the second, and the boys were cheering louder and louder. She glanced around; the girls were looking as dejected as ever. Would the girls by losing the very first round of the game?

* * *

**Piper is so sweet! Some of you might be thinking if you were in her place "That Reyna b**** deserves it." But Piper is too nice. She cares for anyone unless they are on Gaea's side. ****(This is a reference to literally the first paragraph of the story. Go back and reread it if you forget.)**

**And about the Pokémon thing, I made that up. I have no clue if it actually is on Pokémon. (But I did see it in a video game!)**

**People may be wondering, "Well what happened to Reyna?" Remember, not a big deal! She'll come up again, maybe in the next chapter, maybe in the one after that, I dunno. But she will come up. She and Jason will talk. But they WILL NOT kiss, or date, or make out, or lemon (in extreme cases), or anything of the sort. How many times have we had this exact same conversation? **

**Cliffhanger! If you wanna see who wins the Rock, Paper, Scissor match, continue to read! And it would help if you reviewed as well. **


	20. Tratie's Honeymoon :)

**Sorry it took me so long to update. My mom is freaking out over how much I'm on the computer. The way she acts about it is as if I were on it 24/7.**

**Me and Mom: (Driving in the car.)  
****Mom: Don't you think the iPhones are cool?  
****Me: WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY MOTHER!? (Stands up but head hits the roof of the car. Forced back into seat.)  
****Mom: Uh...  
****Me: (Faint)**

**BECAUSE THAT IS HOW UN-TECHY MY MOM IS! (And, yes, everything above is true. Except for me fainting.)**

**Disclaimer, I don't own PJO or HoO**

* * *

**Reyna**

When Reyna had ran away, literally immediately afterwards, she started to pound herself on the head. _Stupid... Stupid... stupid..._

She burst into the washroom and walked up to the mirror. She forced herself to look calm. It worked. Reyna was very good at this. She had forced herself to practise in the few months that Jason was gone.

Jason...

Who needed him? He was a jerk. No, Reyna took it back. He was a jerk to her. Not to Piper. Just Reyna.

She had just finished thinking of this when Hylla walked in. "Reyna," she started, but Reyna cut her off.

"I don't wanna hear it," she said, her voice surprisingly calm. "I don't want to. I am over Jason, and that is final."

Hylla smiled and stopped walking a few feet behind Reyna. "Okay," she simply said. "You want to go back outside? They're doing something other than songs... Finally."

Reyna shook her head, still looking down into the marble sink.

"C'mon, you'll love it," said Hylla, stepping forward and nudging her sister with her elbow lightly.

"Try me," replied Reyna.

"Well, they are currently playing a game show with the two teams of boys and girls fighting over who is the best. Currently, Hera and Ares are playing rock, paper, scissors."

"Rock paper scissors?" Reyna almost laughed out loud. "You're serious? Rock paper scissors?"

"Godly style."

"OH MY GODS!" yelled Reyna, pushing off the ledge of the sink, giving her enough momentum to run out of the building in less than three seconds. Hylla gave into a smiled and followed her. She didn't want to miss this any more than Reyna did.

* * *

**Lou Ellen**

It was worse. The girls lost the first two rounds. (As if losing the first one wasn't bad enough.)

**(AN: ^ Reference to the last chapter, Piper's thoughts, last sentence.)**

Lou Ellen and her BFF Katie were a little miserable. But the rolling die had six options left, so the girls still had time to catch up and beat the boys.

Athena rolled the girl's die for the third time. The goddess of the moon and hunt's face flashed up on the screens. Gritting her perfect white teeth slightly, Artemis stepped forward. Apollo shot her a hey-look-who-it-is look, but she just rolled her eyes at it.

Hermes rolled the boy's die. Lou Ellen couldn't believe the outcome.

"Apollo?" she demanded. Dionysus laughed.

"Twin against twin!" he shouted, rubbing his hands together. "Now this should be exciting."

Apollo walked up next to her sister and stuck out his arm for them to shake. Artemis didn't. Her hands were too busy being curled into fists, her face red from restraining to yell a series of no-no words at Dionysus and Apollo. After five seconds, the god of music pulled his hand away and placed both of them behind his head.

"This time, we'd like a volunteer from the audience to roll the die," said Dionysus. Jimmy from the control space next to the DJ flashed a white light over the tops of people's heads.

"How about... You!" yelled Dionysus. Lou Ellen was curious who got to go up, when she realized it was Katie.

* * *

**Katie**

Katie didn't want to do this. She didn't even know why Dionysus called her up. But soon she was being herded on the stage by two nymphs. Dionysus laid an arm around her shoulders.

"Name?" he asked, shoving the microphone in her face.

"Katie Gardener, daughter of Demeter," she replied, lifting her voice high at the end.

"You don't sound so sure," said Dionysus.

"I'm pretty sure," replied Katie, making the sound of her voice flat.

"I just wanted to ask you to choose the next Battle," explained Dionysus, "but I just had to ask. Is it true you've been secretly dating Travis Stoll for three years now?"

"WHAT?" demanded Katie. "ARE YOU ***BEEPING* *BEEP* *BEEP*** SERIOUS? ***BEEP***?!"

"Well, I guess if you won't confess it, we'll have to ask the guy," said Dionysus.

_"WHAT?"_

Dionysus gestured for Jimmy to roll the lights on Travis Stoll. He was sitting at the snack table, eating something orange with his brother Connor and friend Leo.

"Is it true you and Katie Gardener are secretly dating?" asked Dionysus into the microphone.

Katie wanted to yell into the god's face that they were not, but Travis was faster. "Well, it was supposed to be a secret, but I guess Katie let the cat out of the bag. Our honeymoon is next week!" Then he winked at Katie.

She could feel her face turning red with anger. Furious, she stomped down from the stage, yelling, _"STOLL!"_

Dionysus sighed. "And after all those years at camp I thought they were enemies." Katie turned around to probably show off a very rude gesture at the god, considered it thoroughly, then continued her way to murder Travis.

"And now since our die roller is gone," continued Dionysus, "we need a new volunteer." He paused. "You know what? I think I'm going to do it."

Katie was to busy inflicting pain Travis various times to notice what happened next.

"YOU - ROTTEN - SON - OF A - ***BEEP*** - ***BEEP*** - ***BEEP* - *BEEP***!" she yelled, slapping the side of his face every time she could lift her arm back up to smack him. Finished, she marched away. Lou Ellen, her BFFLE (best friend for, like, ever) found her.

"Really?" she asked.

"Don't question it," sighed Katie.

That was when Artemis started screaming.

_"THAT DIE IS RIGGED!"_ she was yelling. _"RIGGED, I TELL YOU!"_

"That is enough," said Dionysus in a demanding tone.

"Aw, man. I missed the rolling," said Katie. "What's the battle?"

A huge picture of two people dancing appeared on the screens.

("No. Way," said Katie.

"The irony is too great," finished Lou Ellen through sobs of laughter.)

"I'm the god of music," said Apollo from the stage a little too lazily. "I'm pretty sure we can just hand the point over to the boys, don't you agree?" He smugly smiled at Artemis.

"Sure. Cool. Give the boys the point. Next battle, please!" called Artemis, walking back toward her group, but Athena pushed her back.

"Not happening," Athena hissed in Artemis' ear a little too loudly. "I don't care that Apollo is going to cream your butt, you will get up on that stage and will try your best. Prove boys are brainless, stupid beasts that couldn't put one and one together once and for all!"

A few boys on the god's side of the stage started to protest, as well as all the guys on the ground.

"Isn't that what your group of Hunters is all about?" continued Athena. "Staying away from boys forever?"

"I guess so," said Artemis, furrowing her brow.

"Then go kick some butt!" Athena pushed Artemis forward. "And besides," she called. "If you win, this could be payback for all the times he... I dunno, did something you didn't like."

"As god of music, I think it's only fair you get to go first, Apollo," said Dionysus once Artemis had regained her balance from Athena's push and walked back to the front of the stage. When his back was turned, Katie was pretty sure she saw the goddess of the moon and hunt stick out her tongue at Dionysus.

"Jimmy!" Apollo called. "Put on-"

"I don't think so!" interrupted Artemis a little too sassy. "You dance, I choose. Jimmy, play—"

* * *

**Travis**

The boys had just won the second round. So Travis, Connor and Leo went to the snack table to celebrate.

"This orange stuff is amazing!" exclaimed Connor with a mouth full of orange stuff. "What's it called?"

Or at least, that was what Travis guessed he meant. It sounded more like, "Is ora uh ee ah-ahee! Woh ee alld?"

Before Travis could reply to this, a sudden spotlight fell on him.

"What the..." started Leo.

"Is it true you and Katie Gardener are secretly dating?" asked Dionysus from the stage. Squinting a little, Travis could make out a furious Katie next to him, and Jimmy training a sliver light on him. All eyes were on him.

"Well, it was supposed to be a secret, but I guess Katie let the beans spill," replied Travis. "Our honeymoon is next week!" he added a little too casually, but it had the same result nonetheless. Katie's face turned red with fury. When the light faded off him, Travis started to laugh.

"Let me guess," said Leo with a handful of orange stuff. "You guys aren't dating?"

Travis nodded between fits of laughter. He vaguely noticed Katie stomping down from the stage to murder him.

"Wouldn't it be cool if the Prophecy of Seven kids went up and did a song?" said Connor, completely out of the blue. He turned his head sideways to face Leo.

"Yeah," he replied casually. "I guess." He looked up.

"I was supposed to take the hint, wasn't I?"

Connor nodded.

* * *

**RANDOM FACT OF THE DAY!**

**When I first had this story idea, I planned on calling it Demigod Dance Party, and it would have been staged on the beach in CHB. But I changed location and name so the gods could participate. **

* * *

**I dunno why Katie and Lou Ellen are friends. I just sort of always imagined they would be.**

**And a little FYI, slapping is my favourite way to inflict pain. So whenever someone beats someone up, unless they're kids of Ares, Mars, or the gods themselves, they are almost always going to be slapping.**

**And what I made Athena say about boys... Nothing personal. I just figured she would say something like that.**

**Spoiler! And the Prophecy of Seven kids are not performing next chapter! We are continuing the godly version of "Battle of the Sexes!" But I can guarantee you they will. **

**-Bookworm.**


	21. Anything Can Happen On Olympus

**Me: (Walking through Rome.) Tra-la-la-la— Is that a flying ship I see floating in the air... OH MY GODS IT IS! (Runs toward it.)  
**_**On the Argo II...  
**_**Leo: We have some friends to save...  
****Me: (Bursts into room.) Oh—my—gods!  
****Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank, Hazel, Nico: Uh...  
****Me: (Smiling like a crazy person.)  
****Rick: (In the corner, jotting this all down on a notepad to later transform into the House of Hades.)  
****Coach Hedge: Who are you?  
****Me: (Still smiling like a crazy person.)  
****Coach Hedge: (Narrows eyes.) I don't like you. (Swings bat and hits me right of the edge of the Argo II.)  
****Me: (Falling.) AAAAHHHHHH!  
****Coach Hedge: (To Rick) Don't document that.  
****Rick: (Nods once and scribbles out the past thirty seconds from his notepad.)  
****Me: (Lands with a thud on the ground.) Oof! (Passes out.)**

**And that, my dear children, is what happened right after MoA ended... **

...**_HATE YOU, RICK! YOU... YOU... EVIL PERSON! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR PEOPLE... CHB IS ABOUT TO BE INVADED BY ROMANS, PERCABETH JUS FELL DOWN TARTARUS, AND NOW THEY HAVE TO OPEN THE DOORS OF DEATH WITHOUT THEM! AND YOU MAKE US WAIT ONE WHOLE YEAR?!_**

**Sorry, I really needed to do that. And you'd think that without any Kane Chronicle books to finish, he'd be done the House of Hades by March or something. **

**And I'm _still _upset. After all these months...**

**...You should too...**

**_THIS CHAPTER IS FOR BRACKENFERN, FOR HIS OR HER SONG IDEA. ROCK ON! _**

* * *

**Artemis**

If you really stop to think about it, technically Artemis was alive to witness the discovery of America, the first plane fly, and to help the Allies fight the Nazis and win the WWII. Technically.

To do all that, you'd have to be really old.

Like, really really old.

Artemis was really really old. She was born three millennia ago, hello? So, of course, lots of things have happened to her. She had heard many things. She had smelled things that went extinct centuries ago. She had spoken with people born so long ago and died so long ago.

She had also seen many things.

Like Camp Rock.

Numero 2.

It wasn't something she didn't regret as much as watching the Titanic. (_That _was something she wished she had never seen. So sad... How did it win so many awards? Artemis was on the actual ship, The Titanic. The real thing was more scary than heartbreaking. She would rather live that over and over than re-watch that movie.) She told Jimmy the song, and Apollo stared at her as if she were insane.

"Seriously?" he asked, arms crossed.

"Oh, yeah," she replied because it was the first thing that came to her mind. But when she sat down and thought of it later on, it was a pretty lame comeback.

"In this battle, you are allowed to choose up to three, let's call them extra helpers," said Dionysus as if the "extra helpers" were Santa's elves. "_But, _they must follow the following criteria. They must be either demigods or _mortals_-"

There was a collective _aw _from all the gods and goddess in the crowd.

"-They must be less than eighteen years of age," continued Dionysus, "and they must be the same gender as their master." He said "master" as if it were a karate sensei. Artemis wanted to roll her eyes.

"Oh, and only one of them can be either a Hunter (Artemis) or your kid (Apollo)," he finished.

"Will Solace," said Apollo, and the head counselor of the Apollo cabin in CHB walked into the stage, fist-bumping his dad.

"Thalia Grace," said Artemis immediately after.

After a quick nod from the head from Poseidon, Apollo said, "Percy Jackson."

"Uh..." he said. "I don't really want to—"

"Annabeth Chase," Artemis quickly added.

"If I'm going, you're going," laughed Annabeth, dragging her boyfriend forward.

"Jason Grace," said Apollo.

Now it was Artemis' turn again. She didn't know who to choose. She looked at Apollo, all ready with his team. She had to decide, and fast.

She suddenly remembered something Dionysus had said. She turned to face the wine god, who was smiling at her. She then knew who she would choose to be the last member of her team.

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare," she said. A redhead girl in the crowd stood up.

"Me?" she asked.

"Yes, you," said Artemis in a mock exhausted voice. "The red oracle-mortal kid."

Rachel obviously didn't like being referred to "the red oracle-mortal kid", but she must have realized Artemis was kidding around with her. She agreed to be on her team.

"How dare you, Sister?" demanded Apollo in a mocking voice. "My own oracle?"

"An oracle who has just predicted the girls are about to cream the boys in this silly contest," said Rachel, sticking out her tongue at Apollo.

"Five minutes to talk," said Dionysus dramatically. "While, in the meantime, please enjoy this video of Justin Beiber being hit by a water bottle!"

"Okay, girls," whispered Artemis to her group as a slow motion version of Beiber being whacked on the head appeared on the screens beside them. "What's the game plan?"

**-o-O-o-**

_"One, two, three, four!" _yelled Apollo.

This wasn't a singing contest. It was a dance off. Either way, the girls ended up singing. The guys... Let's say were more reluctant. But they agreed.

_"I hope you're ready for the time of your life,_  
_Just look at me I'll put a gleam in your eye," _sang Artemis, tapping her temple in unison with Annabeth and Thalia and Rachel behind her.

"_Buckle up I'm gonna take you for a ride." _She twirled around in a circle and let her knees buckle, touching the floor with the pads of her fingers, looking down. She heard Annabeth, Thalia and Rachel doing the same behind her. She looked up at the last beat before the next verse. They got up and walked around in fourth of a circle, letting Annabeth have the front. The guys just crossed their arms and yawned, pretending to be bored.

_"Let's go we got you going get in the vibe,_  
_Everybody put your hands to your skies,_  
_Buckle up I'm gonna take you-take you high," _added Annabeth. The demigod raised her arms up in unison with the Hunter, goddess and oracle behind her.

(Hm... What a bunch.) The boys stopped their _This_ just _couldn't be just a little more entertaining _act, and took a step forward to shove the girls away. Apollo shoved Artemis a little too hard, and she ended up having to spin sideways to cover her unbalanced turn of events.

_"Show me, show me, show me, show me, show what you got," _sang the four girls, shimmying their shoulders up and down, pointing at the boys with their index finger at the last word.

_"Come on, come on, come on, come on, ready or not._  
_La-la-la-la-la, let me see how you rock._  
_It's on, it's on, it's on..." _

_"Get crazy, crazy, crazy; take it over the top." _The girls made the same motion someone trying to shoot a basketball would. (Well... It looked better than it sounded.)

_"'Cause we, 'cause we, 'cause when we rock, we let it rock._  
_Rock it, rock it, rock it dance till we drop." _They swung their arms in big circles as if striking an awesome power chord on a guitar.

_"It's on, it's on, it's on..."_

_"Okay now!" _the girls sang, done their share of the work. "_Are you ready?"_

"One..._ two... One, two, three, four!" _he chanted.

_"Show stoppin' when I step in the place," _sang Apollo. He along with Percy, Jason and Michael stepped toward the girls, who were pretending to be bored, just as the boys had done to them.

_"Before it's done, you're gonna beg me to stay."_

_In your dreams,_ thought Artemis. But she didn't want to interrupt the song, so she kept it to herself.

_"Get on board-_  
_Come on; let's ride the wave," _sang Apollo. This time, their step forward as a little too threatening. They gave the same semi-turn the girls had done to change leadership roles.

"_Let's go, let's go we just do what we do._  
_Watch me break and pop I'll blast it for you._  
_You wanna rock like us? Cause we're never second place," _sang Percy. Artemis caught a few returning fangirls in the crowd.

_"You ready?" _sang Rachel behind Artemis.

_"Show me, show me, show me, show me, show what you got." _This time all eight of them sang.  
_"Come on, come on, come on, come on, ready or not._  
_La-la-la-la-la-la, let me see how you rock._  
_It's on, it's on, it's on..."_

_"Get crazy, crazy, crazy; take it over the top._  
_'Cause we, 'cause we, 'cause when we rock, we let it rock._  
_Rock it, rock it, rock it; dance till we drop._  
_It's on, it's on, it's on..."_

_"Okay now!" _asked Thalia, stepping forward, the three other girls slipping behind her.

_"Are you ready? Come on!" _Jason pumped his fist in the air once, stepping up as well.

_"One, two... One, two, three!"_

"_The-the-the-there is no competition!_  
_That's why we're in the number one position!" _rapped Jason in his sister's face. Thalia stayed unmoved, and when he finished, she even rolled her eyes.

_"Your crew can't hang with us,_  
_Boy, girls are too dangerous._  
_Ain't got the style or the stamina, uh!" _the girls interrupted, the vocal leader being Thalia.

_"Just doin' my thing,_  
_Get hooked on my swing,_  
_Rockin' the place, droppin' the bass,_  
_Makin' everybody sing,_  
_Yeah, we make the bells ring,"_ finished Jason.

"_Yeah, right_," added Thalia even though it wasn't part of the real song. Jason circled back to his group. Thalia just smiled in a boy-you-just-got-dissed way with her arms crossed. She walked backwards toward her own group, but halfway, she cried _"It's on, it's on!" and _freed an arm, pumping it up in the air for every two words.

_"Yeah..."_

"_Show me, show me, show me, show me, show what you got!_  
_Come on, come on, come on, come on, ready or not._  
_La-la-la-la-la, let me see how you rock,_  
_It's on, it's on, it's on..." _The boys sang and danced, Rachel joining in when it came to the dancing. (She had high-fived Thalia took then had taken her place.)

_"Show me!"_ quickly yelled Rachel.

_"Get crazy, crazy, crazy; take it over the top!" _she sang along with the rest of the girls' group.  
"_'Cause we, 'cause we, 'cause when we rock, we let it rock._  
_Rock it, rock it, rock it; dance till we drop._  
_It's on, it's on, it's on..."_

They each spun sideways toward their dance group. They all stepped up in the same formation they were in at the beginning; gods at the top of a diamond, facing each other.

_"Show me, show me, show me, show me, show what you got," _only Apollo sang, though they all danced. The crowd below cheered for their team. Artemis couldn't help but smiling at the thought of winning over the boys in this silly battle... Even competition...

_"Come on, come on, come on, come on, ready or not," _sang only the boys.  
_La-la-la-la-la, let me see how you rock."_

_"It's on, it's on, it's on!"_

_"Get crazy, crazy, crazy; take it over the top!" _sang only the girls.  
"_'Cause we, 'cause we, 'cause when we rock, we let it rock._  
_Rock it, rock it, rock it; dance till we drop."_

_"It's on, it's on, it's on..."_

_"It's on!"_

Artemis let out a loud, happy sigh. Phew! Thalia laughed once and hugged the closest person to her; Annabeth. They were all sweaty and tired, but they had given their best effort, so it was worth it.

"Whoa-oh-oh!" yelled Dionysus, walking up on the stage to join them. "And I might say, what a performance! Though my vote would probably have to go to the boys, both groups did a splendid job. Now, in this battle, the crowd gets to choose who takes home the victory. The voting starts... Now."

Artemis probably would have asked how they would vote if the mental poll appeared in her head. For a second it surprised her; how did they get into her own brain? But then she told herself that this was Olympus. Anything was possible.

Now, if I am completely honest, the boys would have won. Not because their dancing out-danced the girl's, but because Apollo was on their team, and Apollo was _hot_. Simple as that. But the girls _really_ wanted to win this. So, of course, every boy voted for the boys, and every girl voted for the girls.

That turned out to be a problem for the guys. Because it is scientifically proven that there are more girls in the world than boys by 50.5. So a ratio of that would be 505 girls/1000 people.

So... The girls won. By five votes.

You must be thinking, but how come there are exactly 1000 people? And how is the given ratio _exact?_

Simple.

This is Olympus. Anything is possible.

* * *

**RANDOM FACT OF THE DAY!**

**Many, many, many chapters ago, Leo sang "Danza Kuduro" with Jacob. When I had this idea for him to sing a Spanish song, I intended for him to sing, "Todo lo que quiero es bailar" instead. But I forgot what the song was called, so I did DK instead.**

* * *

**I added Rachel in this chapter because I realized that she wasn't mentioned very many times in the story. I wanted to put her on Apollo's team, but then realizing she was a girl and Apollo was on the boy's team, I put her on Artemis' team, which is better, I believe.**

**AND I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST JB, WHETHER IT BE JUSTIN BEIBER OR THE JONAS BROTHERS.**

**And, I have to say, this chapter wasn't one of my favourites. I mean, you wanna _read_ about someone singing, and you wanna _see _someone dance. So I made up some of the moves, but if you want to see how it really goes, look up the song on YouTube. And besides, when you listen to the song without seeing the video, you can easily imagine what they are all doing. I know 'cause I've tried. (It helps if you listen to the song while reading, though it gets a little tiresome, for you have to go back into your second tab or iPod setting and pause to read the extra ideas.)**

**And I know I said in the previous chapter Apollo would be going first. I was wrong. It was a typo.**

**Okay, not, but I wanted a reason for Artemis to choose the song. **


	22. Demolish

**Disclaimer: You know what it is.**

* * *

**Athena**

"Now for our sixth round of Gods and Goddess," said Dionysus in a low, mysterious voice. After the usual die rolling Athena had to perform, they finally got to the part where they rolled the battle die. It would be Aphrodite and Hephaestus competing, Aphrodite going for the second time that night. (The guys had won that battle by a landslide.)

The die rolled on the stage floor for a few seconds, and finally stopped on one of the three possible choices. A tall cartoon structure appeared on both screens. A large wrecking ball stood next to it, swung over to one side, ready to strike the brown dull building. Athena didn't know what that meant—she had a feeling no one really did—but smiles were starting to spread across all the boys' faces.

"I have a feeling the guys are going to like this," said Dionysus as if to confirm Athena's thoughts. All the boys on Mount Olympus started to roar and cheer.

"We're dead," Athena heard Artemis mutter to Hera, eyeing Aphrodite. She was too busy making googly eyes at Ares to take notice of this insult—or the fact that she was battling her husband.

"So, this is how it works," started Dionysus. "Two objects will appear, one for each player, and they'll have to destroy it the most efficient way, the fastest, and with the least amount of remaining pieces."

"Aw, man!" complained Ares. "I would have won this!"

"Best out of three," continued Dionysus. "You can't use the same technique twice. Ready, and... Go!"

Two large boulders the size of a Grandpa chair appeared in front of Hephaestus and Aphrodite. Hephaestus took no time at all; he pulled out some sort of ray gun and blasted the rock to pieces. The remaining pebbles rained down on the crowd below, and all the guys cheered. The timer on the screens indicated that it had taken 0.67 second to do this. Aphrodite looked around, surprised.

"We started?" she asked. The girls all groaned, and Athena even put her head in her hands.

"Second object!" yelled Dionysus. "Ready...?"

The second things appeared—refrigerators. Aphrodite was ready this time, and she sprayed her arms in front of her. The refrigerator shot onto its side, and zoomed toward Hephaestus, catching him in the knees. He groaned and looked down, delaying enough time for the refrigerator to zip across the stage and plummet to the ground twenty feet below. It evaporated before it hit the floor. Aphrodite placed her perfectly manicured fingers on her hips and gave Hephaestus a look that said, _See? I can_ totally _do this all day._

"Whoever wins this one wins the battle!" Dionysus cried. "Ready? Set?"

Two life-sized statues of a drakon appeared on the stage. Both contestants—Aphrodite and Hephaestus—each stopped and stared up in amazement. The two twin statues were identical, and huge.

"Oh my me!" cried Aphrodite, throwing her hands to her face.

Hephaestus whistled in amazement. "That is one big hunk of rock," he whispered in awe. Hephaestus and Aphrodite shared a quick glance, and started.

Aphrodite summoned a wave of what appeared to be tamed Stymphalian birds to attack her statue. Hephaestus chose a more obvious—but effective—way to deal with the task; a giant chain saw.

When Aphrodite saw this, she gasped. _"Oh my me! Oh my me!"_ she kept crying out loud. Hephaestus grinned at her, and ordered the twenty foot flying chain saw to slice the drakon at the head. It fell to the floor and rolled toward Aphrodite.

_"EW!"_ she shrieked, jumping away. Her Stymphalian birds turned to see what happened to their master, and when they saw her running around in circles screaming, they stopped pecking and destroying the statue.

Athena could already tell the guys were going to win this battle.

* * *

**RANDOM FACT OF THE DAY**

**I have a FictionPress account, I actually do. It's the same as my FanFiction name, though there are no stories on there. I planned on posting a story I had finished (view profile for details), but I decided to keep them for myself. Never know when a contractfor publishing might come in.**

* * *

**I hope this chapter wasn't too short. *Bites fingernail nervously*** **It's less than 1000 words, my absolute shortest chapter for this story.**


	23. Athena's Specialty

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO. Another thing; some future questions are taken from the game MINDTRAP I got for Christmas. (I'm not sure if I actually have to make a disclaimer of this, though.)**

**And I hope you learn something in this chapter as well...** **And I tried so hard to make it long... Hope you like it!**

* * *

**Dionysus**

"As this is the last round of the game Gods or Goddess," said Dionysus in the booming voice almost everyone hated, "no die will need to be rolled, since the last possible option is a battle in which anyone can play. If the guys win this battle, they win the game. If the girls win, then we'll have to play the tie-breaker. Hopefully that won't happen."

"Hey!" yelled the Hera, Artemis, Athena and a few other upset girls in the audience.

Dionysus ignored them. "The maybe last battle will be..." He pointed dramatically at the screens, which had gone dark and were slowly growing a brighter and brighter white. Finally, a picture of a pinwheel appeared on the screens. "MINDTRAP!" he yelled to the audience. All the guys groaned as they turned to face the cluster of cheering girls on the stage; mostly Athena.

_"HEY!"_ the goddess of wisdom barked at no one in particular, and the growing groan rippling through the crowd below stopped almost instantly.

"This is how it works," Dionysus started. "I will spin the pinwheel, and it can either land on Mystery Stories, Riddles, Conundrums, Your Choice, or Dionysus Decides." The wine god smiled. "Anyone on the team can give an answer. First person to get the correct one wins a point for their team; no bother how hard the question is. Let's start." The pinwheel behind Dionysus stared to spin, even though he hadn't touched it.

Finally, the pointer stopped on Conundrums, and a small sheet of thick paper appeared in Dionysus' hand. He read it in a loud voice.

"Two men were walking in a forest," started Dionysus. He caught sight of Athena already brainstorming all the possible answer possibilities. "And you can't submit an answer until I finish the story question," he said to her specifically. Athena appeared to not take notice.

"Two men were walking in a forest," Dionysus started again. "They both got lost. Fortunately for them, they each had compasses. Don't ask me why. The first man walked east looking for a highway and the second man walked west looking for a campground. After fifteen minutes, they bumped into each other. How is this possible?" Dionysus looked around to see the other gods' faces. A large hourglass appeared on the screens, and below that a red set of number started counting down from sixty.

"I got it!" cried Athena at forty-one. The timers stopped. "The two men took separate walks. They hadn't gone together. And when they both got lost, they were within a thirty minute walk of each other!"

"That is correct!" yelled Dionysus, pointing at her. A large tally appeared on the screens, giving the girls a point. "Next round!" he yelled. The pinwheel spun, and landed on Riddles. Instead of a piece of paper, a large sign appeared on both screens.

_IT

The timer started from thirty this time. Dionysus was so sure Athena would get the point, and she nearly did, but Apollo was quicker. (And that was the only reason why she didn't.)

"Blanket," he said casually.

"Correct!" yelled Dionysus. The guys got a point, and Athena started fuming. "So close," he told her, and she shot him a death glare.

"Being the god of poems helps when it comes to riddles," bragged Apollo to some nymphs beside the stage.

The pinwheel spun another time. It landed on Dionysus Decides. "Hm... What should I choose?" wondered Dionysus out loud. "I know! The one we haven't done yet, Mystery Stories!"

The sheet of paper so thin appeared in Dionysus' hand that he got a paper cut. He winced dramatically and started to read;

"Shadow was about to board a plane to the West Coast when his assistant, who had been on a stakeout the previous evening, approached him and begged him not to fly. When Shadow questioned this, the assistant told him that the previous night he had a horrible dream in which Shadow died in a plane crash. Shadow didn't acknowledge his assistant after that, and boarded the plane. He arrived at the West Coast without incident. He called back to his office and ordered immediate dismissal of his assistant." Dionysus looked up dramatically. "Why?" he asked.

A large red one hundred eighty appeared on the screens; three minutes.

"What?" Dionysus overheard Artemis demand from the girl's group. "This story makes no sense. The guy made a mistake, so what?"

"No," Athena murmured, deep in thought. "It wasn't that. It can't be. There's something else..."

Over on the guy's side, things weren't looking much better.

"What is this supposed to mean?" asked Zeus to no one.

"Maybe the word 'dismissal' has a different definition?" wondered Hephaestus out loud.

Near the eighty-five mark, the girls cheered over on the other side of the stage. "Yes!" one of them cheered. "Athena, you are a genius!"

"We have the answer," said Athena for her group proudly once their little victory cheer was over. "The assistant wasn't fired because he was wrong about the plane crashing. At the beginning, the man was described as 'the assistant who had been on a stakeout the previous evening'. And then later on in the story, he said that the previous night he had a bad dream. That means he had been sleeping on the job!"

"I have to admit, you do have a point," said Dionysus. "But it's not the answer we're looking for."

"What?" Athena shrieked. "Of course it's not wrong, it's—"

"I'm teasing you guys!" interrupted Dionysus. "Really, Athena, learn to take a joke!" The tally chart returned, and another point was placed in the name of the girls. Athena gave Dionysus a very rude gesture when she thought his back was turned.

The pinwheel spun again... Your choice.

"I think it's only fair the guys get to choose the subject," said Dionysus. "After all, the boys are losing to the girls."

"Yeah!" yelled Poseidon, stepping forward in a threatening way and pointing at the girls with a not-very-threatening finger. "We are losing!"

Ares elbowed his uncle. "Shut up!" he hissed.

After a group huddle with a lot of discussion, arguing, and what Dionysus thought to be a short rock paper scissors match between Apollo and Hephaestus, the boys lined up in a vertical line as if waiting to be given a war medal. Hermes said, "Conundrums."

"Hey!" exclaimed Zeus, stepping out of the line to face his son. "I tell the audience of our chosen choice." Zeus stepped forward from the group and raised his hands out a little too exaggerated.

"Cordumcrums," he said, totally messing up the name.

"Cordumcrums it is," muttered Dionysus, and started to read the page that had appeared in his hand.

"Once upon a time, in a country named USA, there were two twins, named Kenny and Art. Odd name, Art, but being odd is a compliment! It means your different!" Dionysus spread his arms out wide. "Besides, it provs that he has a creative mother!"

"Get on with it!" Athena nearly snapped from the side of the stage.

"Sheesh," muttered Dionysus. He returned to his piece of paper. "These twins were born in May, but their birthdays were in April. First thing to think about." He paused. "On Art's 33rd birthday, he legally married his mother." Dionysus paused again. "How can this be?" he asked, smiling a little as the timer on the screens started to count down from three hundred.

No one gave an answer for a minute or so. But somewhere near the two hundred thirty mark, the girls started exclaiming loudly.

"We have the answer!" Hestia called. Dionysus felt his hope for the boys winning this battle sink to his stomach.

"The twins mentioned are twins, but not from the same mother. So when Art went to marry George's mother, George's mother was only re-marrying," Athena explained. Dionysus' hope began to rise again.

"I'm sorry to say this, sis, but that answer is incorrect," said Dionysus.

Athena squinted at him. "Is this another joke?" she demanded. "Because it isn't funny!"

"No," said Dionysus casually. "It isn't. Nice try, but these guys are twins of the same mother. And what about the 'born in May, birthdays in April' part?"

Athena opened her mouth to retort, but closed it again, and simply decided on fuming at her half-brother. Dionysus started to walk toward the boy's group, but stopped halfway and turned back around.

"You could still get the correct answer, dear," he said, adding the dear at the end just to annoy her. "Just stop glaring at me and use that oversized brain of yours."

Dionysus expected some angry outburst from the goddess, but he heard nothing. Instead, Athena fumed at him for a second, then she and her group started exchanging answer ideas again. The wine god faced the boy's group again.

"So what are the men doing?" asked Dionysus, entering the discussion between the boys.

"Wishing we hadn't picked Cornumbums," said Ares, messing up the name like Zeus had.

"Well, we have half the question, at least," said Zeus. He looked up at his son. "That counts for something, right?"

Dionysus shrugged. "Well, I have a feeling the girls have the other half correct." He pointed over his shoulder to where the girls were talking among themselves. Finally, they broke apart from their huddle and Athena spoke again.

"We have the answer," she said. "Kenny and Art were born in the town of May, Oklahoma." She smiled slightly. "I may also add that May is in the Harper County, and had a population of nearly forty in 2010. Made up of 0.52 km squared, it is a quite small town. But I don't need to bore you with those details. Kenny and Art were born in the town of May, but in the month of April."

"And the second part?" inquired Dionysus.

"Well, uh, you see, well, uh, we haven't exactly, um, figured that part out," admitted Athena. Dionysus turned to the boys.

"Answer?" he asked.

"Art went into priesthood," explained Zeus. "He didn't marry his mother the way you think he did; he simply performed the ceremony when she remarried someone else."

"Wow, I am impressed," said Dionysus.

"And not about my unnecessary knowledge of the small town May?" cried Athena at the same time Zeus said a little too proudly, "Yes, I know these sorts of things. My wisdom is unendable."

"Unendable isn't a word," snapped Athena, her head whipping around to face her father.

"Yes, it is!"

"I believe not."

"Uh-huh!"

"Quit being so stubborn, because it isn't."

"I don't think so, girl!"

"No, it—" Athena stopped. "What did you just say to me?"

"Well, since both teams have half the question right, let's give both teams get half a point!" finished Dionysus before this family discussion over whether 'unendable' was a word or not escalated to physical violence. Another half point was added to each team's tally up on the screens. "And, besides, you still have one question left. If the guys get it, tiebreaker question! Girls get it, they win the battle! Last one!" yelled Dionysus. He spun around to face the pinwheel land on...

Mystery stories.

Dionysus started to skim through the paper. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "Another one about Shadow!" He started to read out loud.

"'Mr. Shady?' asked Shadow," said Dionysus in a bad impression of what he suspected Shadow to sound like. "'I have some terrible news. Your brother-in-law is dead and I believe he was murdered.'

"'Oh no!' cried Shady. 'I saw Sam a couple days ago. But to tell the truth, I'm not that surprised. Sam did have a big mouth and had quite a few enemies. In fact, several of my sisters' husbands and Sam had a big fight over some gambling deal that turned sour. And another time, someone loaned Sam twenty grand and never got it back. And someone just accused Sam of framing them into a crime.'

"Shady never finished. Shadow read him his rights and arrested Shady for suspicion of murder." Dionysus looked up. "Why?"

The clock started to count down from three hundred, and the two groups started to discuss in a group huddle.

The timer never reached two hundred fifty—not coming even close to two hundred. "We have the answer!" yelled Hera. "Athena?"

Athena crossed her arms and looked away from her group stubbornly. "I want you guys to explain it," she called back to them a little harshly. "I've done enough work for you guys so far."

So Artemis stepped forward. "Shadow never mentioned the dead person was Sam, but Shady jumped into a conclusion that it was him, and he was correct. How would he know this? If he had murdered Sam. Shady even admitted that he had several sisters who were all married when he mentioned the gambling fight."

"Very well played," said Dionysus. "I think we have our winner!"

All the girls in the crowd cheered wildly. The boys didn't.

"Wait, we won?" asked Artemis over the huge racket.

"Yes!" cheered Demeter. The girls all gave into a group hug, even Aphrodite, who had done absolutely nothing the entire battle.

"We did it!" yelled Hera.

"Yoo hoo!" cried Hestia.

"I knew we could do it!" yelled Aphrodite. She looked around at her teammates. "I am proud of us all... My hard effort won us yet another round in this battle."

Even Hestia couldn't contain an eye-roll.

"And let us not forget the girl who made that happen," said Athena a little upset. The other girls pulled out of their group hug and faced her.

"Sorry," Artemis apologized. Athena gave them all a stern look, but that hard glare slowly turned into smile, and soon the other girls realized that she was joking around with them.

"Now, since the girls have a total score of four, and the boys have a score of four, he would usually call it a tie," said Dionysus. "But we don't want a tie! We want a winner! So that is why we are having out tiebreaker battle! Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for the battle that will decide the champion of _Gods or Goddess!_"

Everyone cheered.

* * *

**Jason**

Jason finally found Reyna. She was leaning against the outside washroom wall, watching the game show from a distance. When Jason spotted her, he jogged over. Reyna looked away from him.

"Hello, fellow praetor," she said. Jason sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry if you feel jealous that Piper and I are dating," he said, getting straight to the point. Reyna's head spun around to face him at the word _jealous_.

"Who said I'm jealous?" she demanded haughtily.

"Reyna," said Jason. "You just sang me a love song in front of Olympus. It was kind of obvious."

Reyna crossed her arms and looked away without adding any comment.

Jason softened his tone. "Reyna, I _do_ like you," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. Reyna looked down. "I just don't like you the way I like Piper," he continued. "You're a favourite little sister to me. I like you, just...affectionately."

"But you like Piper in a love-like way," Reyna retorted. She looked up, and Jason saw the small smile on her face. "It's okay. I'm just glad you cleared that up. Thank you." Then she hugged Jason in a totally-sister-like way.

"Here, how about this," said Jason. "We perform a song together. I'll ask Dionysus if he can bump us up a few spots so that we can go right after the game show finishes."

"Sure," said Reyna as they started their way back to the main part of the party. "What song?" Reyna asked

Jason smiled and wrapped an arm around Reyna's shoulders in that affectionate-like-a-sister way he spoke of. "What do you think of Ian Carey...?"

* * *

**RANDOM FACT OF THE DAY!**

**The idea for this story occured to me in the car, while my mom stopped on our way home to pick up the mail. The song Die Young from Ke$ha was playing, and I suddenly was hit by the mental image Piper and Hazel singing it. The idea haunted me for days, and every song I heard somehow had PJO or HoO in it. Finally, insanity drove me into getting a FanFiction account, and four or five days later, I started this story. **

* * *

**CLIFFHANGER! MUAHAHAHAHA!**

**Review, please! Oh, and a new contest. Only for this chapter. I'm taking a new question from my MindTrap box, and the first person to send me the correct answer gets the same winnings as the 100th review award. (View previous chapter for details.)**

**What phrase is represented below?**

**.that's**

**Good luck! (Only the line above is the riddle, which isn't really a riddle. I didn't do one of those because I knew if I did a riddle, people would simply search the answer on Google or Yahoo.) The answer will be displayed in the next chapter, whether someone got it or not.**


	24. Animal Cruelty

**Hello, fellow PJO and HoO lovers! ****Last God and Goddess battle! And this one is the tiebreaker! And it's gonna be epic!**

**Me: Don't own PJO or HoO. Deal with it.  
****Troll Rick: ****_Good..._**

**Now, the answer to the riddle from chapter 23: That's beside the point.**

**Get it? Because the riddle was .that's, so _t__hat's _is beside the point!**

**It makes sense once you know what the answer is.**

* * *

**Dionysus**

This next idea wasn't Dionysus', he swears. Okay, maybe it was, but, hey, give the guy a break. He had been drinking—okay, more like _chugging_—an entire bottle of wine when being set to the task of coming up with the tiebreaker battle idea. And eventually, the alcohol had rocked him to sleep. He had been dreaming about Zeus and Hera having one of their arguments again. All of a sudden, Zeus had taken out this creature that spit lightning bolts, and Hera had summoned a peacock that used boomerangs to attack.

Well, that all added up, it lead to the last battle.

"You can't be serious!" Athena was screaming.

"How on earth did you get _this_ crazy idea?" Zeus was demanding.

"Those poor creatures…" Artemis was crying to herself as Demeter tried to comfort her while she herself was crying, "Those poor plants…"

"Impossible!" Poseidon was yelling out loud.

"Cool!" Ares was shouting.

"Whatever," Aphrodite was telling herself.

And the rest of the gods were too shell-shocked to say anything.

The stage shot to the floor and sunk five meters into the ground. Another three meters of fencing shot up at the rim. All the gods and goddess had been teleported into some stands at the sides, and everyone else had to swarm around the fence. The only person inside the newly created arena was Dionysus, now holding a microphone, standing right on top of the red, white and black—

Pokémon ball.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!" Dionysus yelled into the microphone (as if his voice wasn't booming enough already). "Welcome to the tiebreaker battle for _Gods and Goddess,_ the Pokémon fight!"

Everyone who wasn't an Olympian god (or Hestia) started to cheer— With the exception of Ares, of course. Dionysus caught sight Artemis groaning loudly and placing her head in both hands.

"Well, we'll have three rounds," Dionysus continued, still eyeing Artemis. "I'm thinking Artemis for the girls, maybe?"

"What?" Artemis' head shot up. "I didn't volunteer!"

"You didn't need to!" Dionysus continued brightly. "I just chose you! Now come on up!"

"But I have no idea _how_ to play Pokémon!" Artemis kept protesting as she was urged down the side stairs to the stadium.

"You knew _Camp Rock_," said Apollo from the boy's side. "How come this is too unnecessary for you?"

"And thank you Apollo for becoming our contestant for the boys!" Dionysus said, waving his hand dramatically at Apollo.

"Wait, _what?"_ Apollo said, caught by surprise. "No, Dionysus, I was just—" That was when Hephaestus shoved the god of music down to the arena, where Artemis waited for him with her arms crossed.

"So we battle again, brother."

* * *

**NO POV BECAUSE POKÉMON IS TOO EPIC FOR ONE! **

"This time, unfortunately for you, Artemis, _I'll_ be the one bringing home the championship," Apollo said. "I'm ready for you." He gave his best karate stance with a loud _WHOOOOOO YAAHHH!_

"Oh my gods," said Artemis sarcastically. "If I was anything but sane, I would be yelling in terror right now." The goddess sighed and walked past him, flicking his forehead while doing so. Apollo lost his balance and fell backwards.

"Amateur," Artemis muttered as she inspected the rows of Poké balls she could choose to battle Apollo with.

"Hey!" Apollo yelled after her, getting to his feet. "I wasn't ready for that!"

Artemis ignored him and chose a Poké ball, tossing it from hand to hand. "I think this one will do," she said, and readied herself on her side of the stadium.

Apollo looked at her blankly. He grabbed for a random Poké ball from his own racks. "I choose you, Pikachu!" he yelled dramatically, and making a show of throwing it in the middle of the arena in one swift movement.

A purple mouse appeared.

There was a short moment of silence as everyone stared at the small mouse. Then all the girls started to laugh.

"You… Chose… A _Mouse!"_ Artemis choked between sobs of laughter. She actually fell to her knees in the process, slapping the ground with the palm of her hand.

Zeus huffed. "Good thing he didn't choose Pikachu," he told the person sitting next to him, who turned out to be Poseidon. Zeus pointed at himself. "Pikachu is _mine_!"

"All right, Arty, your turn," Apollo said. "My ferocious rodent is going to cream whatever animal you have's butt!"

Artemis took out her Poké ball and threw it in the middle. A large brown and beige bird with a red and yellow crest (I may add it looked quite a lot like a pigeon) appeared. It looked around stupidly, then started to comb its wing feathers.

Artemis face-palmed.

"Uh, Ratso!" yelled Apollo. He pointed at Artemis' pigeon. "_Attack!"_

The rodent looked at him curiously with a cocked head. Apollo tried shooing it away toward its opponent, but the mouse didn't move.

"Ratty, I don't care what moves you have or what your stupid name is," said Apollo. "Attack while she's vulnerable!" He again pointed at Artemis' bird, which was now being coaxed into attacking as well. The rat just kept staring at him.

"Uh, sneak attack!" yelled Apollo, trying things at random. "Bite! Scream! Swagger! I don't care, just do something, Rattata!"

All of a sudden, the mouse shrieked and made a mad dash toward the bird. The pigeon screeched and flew away, starting to hover above the stadium. Artemis threw herself out of the way so the mouse wouldn't ram into her.

"What was that?" she yelled, dusting the stadium sand off her clothes and getting to her feet. Apollo shrugged.

"I guess I just got his name right," he said. He pointed at the mouse. "Rattata, attack again!"

The mouse readied himself on his back paws and yelled out a loud warrior screech. The bird tumbled out of the air and fell in front of Artemis.

"Where did you get the name?" Artemis demanded. Apollo shook his head.

"I'm not telling you," he said. "Rattata, att—"

Artemis caught sight of her Poké ball lying next to her. On it—she simply hadn't caught it before—was a piece of masking tape with the word _PIDGEOTTO_ on it. Artemis decided to risk it.

"My turn," she interrupted. "Piedgeotto?" She called to her bird. "Attack!"

It cocked its head at her.

"I don't care what!" she yelled to it. "Just do it!"

The Piedgeotto shook its head once.

"Ugh! Fine," Artemis muttered. "Uh… Wing attack."

The Piedgeotto shrieked and flew up into the air, a good twenty feet high. He started to dive toward the mouse. Rattata shrieked and scurried away, but the Piedgeotto was more accurate and slammed into the rat head first. A cloud of dust rose, and once it cleared away, Artemis could see Rattata lying on the ground motionless. Piedgeotto seemed more dizzy than hurt.

_"NO!"_ Apollo wailed. "Rattata, get up!" He fell to his knees in front of his beloved rat and poked it as if to make sure it wasn't dead.

The mouse woke. It turned off its back and onto its paws once more, shaking its fur like a wet dog. It screeched at the pigeon, hair standing up on its end.

"Rattata!" Apollo yelled and pointed at the Piedgeotto. He paused, thinking, then yelled, "Bite!"

"Bite?" Artemis asked mockingly, then laughed. "You really think that he'll actually do some damage with a— _OH MY GODS, PIEDGEOTTO, GET OUT OF THE WAY!"_

The pigeon took heed of this advice and flew out of the way before the mouse's fangs could get to him. "Rattata!" Apollo continued. "Uh... Do a sucker punch!"

_Ow,_ thought pretty much everyone as Rattata swiped his head at the pigeon and sent it flying into the stands. It fell to the floor, but after quite a lot of coaxing, it lifted its head from the floor and looked into Artemis' eyes wearily.

"Revenge!" yelled Artemis to her Pokémon. When nothing happened, she sighed. "Revenge, Piedgeotto," she corrected, annoyed that she had to repeat herself. Her pigeon soared toward the rat and got its revenge good.

"Tail whip!"

"Whirlwind!"

"Swagger!"

"Sand attack!"

"Tackle!"

Artemis was about to sprout out another useless attack, when she realized that both Pokémon were low on life. If she continued like this, both of them would die. She needed an attack that was powerful enough to end Rattata for good.

She thought hard. Artemis didn't really know any strong attacks, but she did know one thing from babysitting one of the Hunter's younger brother. (Don't. Ask.)

"Piedgeotto," she told her bird. "_HURRICANE!"_

Piedgeotto looked at her as if saying _A__re you crazy, woman?_ But it rose up into the air nevertheless. The wind started to spin around him in a funnel motion. Soon rain started to fall, and small clouds appeared around it. Piedgeotto squawked only a warrior pigeon could pull off and dived for Rattata.

But Rattata was a mouse. He somehow knew he couldn't win this battle by force or violence, but maybe he could use his agility and tiny size to its advantage.

Rattata waited until the last possible second to scurry out of the way. Piedgeotto saw this and tried to swerve out of the way, but it was going too fast and it was already too late. The pigeon smashed into the stadium floor and exploded in a rain of feathers. The rain stopped and the clouds drifted away, revealing a pigeon that had just lost.

_"NO!"_ Artemis yelled. She knelt next to her dead Pokémon. She took out Piedgeotto's Poké ball and put him back inside. The boys all cheered for their champions, Rattata and Apollo.

"HA!" yelled Apollo, pointing at his sister mockingly. His rat scurried up to join him in gloating. "Hahahahaha! I win, you lose, nyah-nyah-nyah—"

He never got to finish.

**-o-O-o-**

"Next round!" Dionysus announced. Everyone went wild at those words, except for Artemis, Demeter and Apollo; Artemis because she was still mourning the loss of her Pokémon, and Demeter because she was comforting her friend, and Apollo because he was incapable of doing so.

"Now, to make things fair," Dionysus kept saying, "_I'm_ going to choose once again the one to compete for both teams." He paused. "Let's give a loud round of applause for _Hermes and Demeter!"_

Hermes got up with his hands raised victoriously above his head, as if he had already won. He waved at the people cheering for him above. "Thank you!" he called to them. "You truly are a great audience." He blew a kiss at some random girl, who promptly fainted.

Demeter was a little less enthusiastic, but she left for the stadium as well. She went directly to the racks of Pokémon without acknowledging Hermes. Hermes pretended to be insulted by this.

"You won't even say hi?" he demanded, following her. Demeter ignored him, and traced her fingers over all the Poké balls with her eyes closed.

"What are you doing?" asked Hermes. He grabbed one of the Poké balls. "It isn't that hard, you know."

"Go back to your side," Demeter told him sternly. She took the Poké ball from his hands and gently placed it back on its rack. She continued to study all the options available. Hermes rolled his eyes and walked back over to his side. There, he chose the Poké ball that seemed the most roughed up. He turned to face Demeter, but she still had his back to him, still choosing. As he waited, he threw the Poké ball into the air, then caught it again.

Up… Catch.

Up… Catch.

Up—wink at the cute nymph in the crowd—catch.

Meanwhile, Demeter was still choosing her Poké ball. Even though this was obviously animal and plant cruelty, she wanted to make Hermes' chosen Pokémon no more than a smudge on the arena. The boy's team deserved it, after putting her friend Artemis in such pain over the loss of her pigeon...

She ran her fingers over a Poké ball and picked it up. She put it back and kept searching.

Demeter looked behind her shoulder and caught Hermes flirting with some nymph behind the fence. Her fingers curled involuntarily. She picked up the next Poké ball. A small smile spread across her face. Perfect.

She decided to take Hermes by surprise. She whipped open her Poké ball and out popped a majestic animal of white and black, with gold sock stripes on its four feet, and what appeared to be an emerald and gold saddle extending outward from its waist. Merciless red and green eyes stared daggers at Hermes.

"Hermes!" Demeter cried in a mock-joyful voice. "I think I found my Pokémon! This is Arceus. And apparently, he was born before the universe existed, and then shaped it with his 1000 hands." She clapped her hands happily. "He's like the Pokémon god! Like you and me!" She smiled at Hermes. "Let's see who you got."

Hermes stared at Arceus for a little while longer, then reluctantly took out his Poké ball and opened it. A cute little hedgehog-like creature appeared. It had a shell of grass, and a large pink flower the size of its face growing on its side. It turned toward Demeter and yawned so cutely that it would have shamed a Pomeranian. A collective _Aw…_ came across all the girls. Demeter saw the twin red grows on Hermes' cheeks and smiled caringly.

"Oh, isn't that just adorable?" she asked, sitting on her knees and scratching the Shaymin Pokémon under the chin. "And he's a grass Pokémon. I have a feeling we'll get along great."

Hermes face-palmed, wishing he could just lose already.

Demeter put the Pokémon down and got to her feet. She swept the dust off her clothes and turned toward her Pokémon god. "Arceus?" she called. Demeter pointed at the cute fluff ball at her feet. "You know what to do."

And that was the end of the poor little Shaymin.

**-o-O-o-**

"I think the crowd should get to pick who participates in this last round," Dionysus said. "I mean, after all, this is the last battle that determines who wins or loses in _Gods and Goddess_."

_"Ares! Ares! Ares!"_ the boys started to chant immediately.

_"Athena! Athena! Athena!"_ the girls chanted, mostly Annabeth.

"I think we have our contestants!" announced Dionysus. "Lucky winners, come on up!"

Athena and Ares entered the stadium. They each went directly to their Pokémon racks. It took Athena three tries to choose her Pokémon. Ares chose his immediately.

"Not worried the same thing that happened to Hermes will happen to you?" Athena asked/taunted.

"Not at all," said Ares, stroking his Poké ball. "You see, I know war creatures." He threw his Poké ball into the middle of the stadium, where a large flash of light and explosion of noise occurred just after throwing his Pokémon, and a dragon like figure appeared, with black and red wings, a silver and black body, and a gold helmet that overlooked its glowing red eyes.

Giratina.

"They say they were banished for their violence," Ares said, looking up at his enormous pet dragon. "So they lived in a universe opposite to ours. Looks like one of them got away." He patted the dragon's stomach, and the Giratina puffed smoke from its nostrils and scraped one of its six hooves. "Come on," Ares taunted. "What's in that little Poké ball of yours?"

Athena didn't move for a second, then she threw her Poké ball to the center of the stadium, and it opened, revealing an orange creature with a lightning bolt tail. A collective gasp overcame all of Mount Olympus.

"Pikachu?" Ares asked in disbelief. Athena laughed.

"Not at all," she said. "This is Raichu—Pikachu's evil twin, you might say, and who you may call your destroyer from now on." She patted its head.

Ares narrowed his eyes at Athena and spoke in a taunting voice. "Oh, it's on."

* * *

**DISCLAIMER! I know nothing about Pokémon so please excuse my Pokémon mistakes. But I did try. (I did, like, two hours of research on Pokémon. I better not have anything wrong!)**

**And you might say right now, "Well that isn't fair! Who won _Gods or Goddess_?" And I'll say to you, "Use your imagination. Who do you think will win?" And you'll say, "The guys, because they have a Pokémon that was actually banished for its violence." And I'll retort, "True, true, but Raichu is Pikachu's stronger self. And since Pikachu is the best Pokémon EVER, well, the odds are even."**

**And now you'll choose whatever gender you belong on to win.**


	25. Amnesia

**I've had this story idea ever since I learned the name of the song. I was like, perfect! And when I learned that it had four people singing in it, I was like, even more perfect.**

**Disclaimer: I the sense of owning PJO or HoO, I am completely broke except for the plot of this idea. I also don't own the song.**

**And we have our 100th review winner...**

***DRUMROLL***

**HPvsHG!**

**Yay for him! I now have 103 reviews! Thank you _everyone _who feedbacked on my story, though. You all get cookies! **

**COOKIES COOKIES COOKIES!**

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_**CHAPTER DEDICATED TO WINNER... HPvsHG! (AND, YES, HPvsHG STANDS FOR HARRY POTTER VS HUNGER GAMES)**_

* * *

**Reyna**

"Ready?" Annabeth asked, placing a caring hand on her friend's shoulder. Reyna turned to face her.

"Of course I'm ready," she retorted. "The people you should be worried about are Jason and Percy. And they don't even have the long part!"

"So true," Annabeth murmured, and they both stopped speaking to watch the guys practise their lines together. Reyna rolled her eyes.

"Do you have your part down?" she asked. Annabeth nodded.

"You?"

"Of course."

"Alright, guys," said Apollo, walking back up on the stage. "Ready?"

Reyna readjusted her headset. "You bet," she said.

"Ready when you are," said Annabeth.

"Uh, just a few more minutes?" Percy asked weakly.

"Yeah," murmured Jason, riffling through several pages of lyrics, his lines highlighted in a brilliant yellow. Jason didn't look up as he spoke. "Just a few more minutes…" His voice trailed off as he continued to memorize the pages.

"Fine," said Annabeth, and she turned toward Apollo. "Please, just two more minutes? Thank you."

Apollo nodded. "Got that, Jimmy?" he asked, directing this to the demigod up at the DJ. Jimmy peered over all the controls and gave the god of music a thumbs up. He went back to his work.

"You don't even have long lines," Reyna said, peering over Jason's shoulder. "And most of it is just repeats."

"Excellent," said Percy, and he ripped the pages from Jason's grip, taking out a blue highlighter and shading in all his lines. Jason snatched them back, and a long streak of baby blue was smeared across two pages and over Percy's sweater.

"And this was new!" he cried, looking down at the victimed part of his sleeve.

Reyna looked down at her own clothes. Annabeth and she were wearing normal ripped blue jeans and sandals that Reyna actually found comfortable. They wore matching tank tops, the only difference being the colour; Reyna's was light green, Annabeth's was light blue. The guys also had ripped jeans, but theirs were darker. They each had sneakers on with a zip-up sweater; Percy's red and Jason's orange. Reyna had no idea what they were wearing under that, if something at all.

Reyna walked over to the edge of the stage and sat down, feet swinging off the ledge. She was lost in the train of thought. She wondered what would have happened if she and Annabeth had been switched instead of Percy and Jason. She turned around and caught Annabeth ruffling Percy's black hair, and he laughing and messing up her's. Percy would have been devastated, Reyna decided. But would Jason feel the same for her?

Yes, he would, she decided. And I won't dwell on this subject any longer. She got to her feet and with her hands cupped around her mouth, she yelled up at Jimmy. "How much longer?" she asked.

"Thirty seconds!" he hollered back. Reyna shouted a thank you and hurried back toward her friends were.

"Get that?" she asked. Annabeth nodded. Percy gave her thumbs up and went through last minute line memorization. Jason did the same.

"Positions!" yelled Apollo. Annabeth and Reyna hurried to the back of the stage, up some stairs that extended across the whole stage, up a set of stairs that was only two meters long in the middle of the stage, and behind a white curtain, where two long podiums shot skyward when they stepped on them. Jason and Percy headed in opposite directions on the stage. The two girls turned to face the back of the stage, away from the audience. Annabeth fixed her hair the best she could without a mirror and looked over at Reyna. "Ready?" she asked.

"Please," Reyna said. "Stop worrying about me." Annabeth gave her an _if you say so_ look.

"Ready?" Reyna heard Jimmy yell through the speakers. "In three, two—"

Reyna felt that weird tugging sensation in her gut, indicating the time-stop had finished. She was aware of the noise coming back on, and hearing Dionysus announce them, saying their song was very well chosen.

Well chosen? I'll show them well chosen, thought Reyna, her fists curling up. She took notice of this, and told herself that she couldn't let her anger toward the wine god over something as little as this ruin their performance. She closed her eyes and let her anger float away. By the time she had opened them, the song had started.

_"Staring at me, scratching your head, _  
_With a bewildered look on your face,"_ Annabeth started. Reyna felt the podiums lowering to the ground, and a strong white light hitting her back through the white curtain.

_"You…"_ sang Reyna, pulling her hand through her black raven hair.

_"You don't quite seem to re-co-llect,_  
_It's as if there isn't a trace,"_ continued Annabeth, their podiums one third of the way to the floor.

_"Of all the reasons that I got you leave,"_ sang Reyna, pointing in front of her, which really was nothing. But Apollo reassured her it would look good behind the white curtain that only allowed their shadows to be seen by the audience, so she did it.  
_"All the ways you've done me wrong. _  
_Maybe, I can jog your memory,_  
_By the time I'm done with this song."_

By then they had reached the floor and the podiums had stopped sinking. At the first two words of the next line, the two girls spun around and walked toward the white curtain. By the word liar, they had managed to get past the drape and into the real spotlight. Reyna saw all those people watching her, and nearly burst out crying from fear, joy, and hope.

_"You're a liar, a cheat, unfaithful don,"_ sang Annabeth. Both she and Reyna walked down the first step of the stairs.

_"Unfaithful don,"_ added Reyna.

_"You threw away all our love and trust…"_

_"Love and trust!"_

_"It's so hard to see just where you are."_

_"You've been stricken with amnesia,"_ they both sang.  
_"Amnesia!"_

They stepped down onto the real stage floor, and Reyna heard the curtain behind them roll up to the roof, revealing a picture of an ever-changing-colour star. But that didn't matter now.

_"I, I think you got me all wrong, girl..."_ sang Percy from an elevated part of the right side of the stage. Jason also appeared from the left, pumping his fist in the air.

_"Amnesia!"_ chanted Reyna and Annabeth.

_"I think, I think you got me all wrong,"_ this time Jason sang.

_"Amnesia!"_

_"I, I think you got me all wrong, girl..."_ sang Percy.

_"Amnesia!"_

_"I think you got me all wrong!"_

_Maybe_, Reyna thought. The lights faded off of the boys and onto the girls. _"No...!" _she sang out loud instead.

_"I know that you'd rather forget all of the pain you caused me inside,"_ sang Annabeth.

_"You…!"_ Reyna added. _"You need a good reality check, that's why you've walking out of my life!"_

_"Oh, so all the images start flashing back, and the picture is restored!"_

_"Let me resurrect your solid past, 'til there ain't no doubt anymore."_ At this, Reyna and Annabeth walked to the front of the stage in unison.

_"You're a—"_

Some minor fireworks exploded behind Reyna. She took no notice, though she felt aware of some source of heat raining down on her bare neck.

_"—Liar, a cheat, unfaithful don,"_ they sang together, though Reyna was the one to add, "_Unfaithful don,"_ at the end.

_"You throw away all our love and trust—"_

_"Love and trust!"_

_"It's so hard to see just where you are._  
_You've been stricken with amnesia..._  
_Amnesia!"_

_"She said I got amnesia,_  
_No cards, girl, I'm no reader,"_said Percy, who had somehow magically appeared in the middle of the stage with Jason, Reyna and Annabeth by using a platform from below. (When Reyna looked back on it, she wondered how it was possible without being seen or falling to their deaths.)

_"That dress make me believe her,_  
_Treat yourself if like I treat ya," _Jason added.

_"She's struttin' like a diva," _Percy said, walking his fingers over Annabeth's shoulder.

_"Got a glimpse, go out for her features,"_ added Jason, pointing both fingers at Reyna.

_"I got approval from all my people,_  
_Is she the one, is she a keeper?"_

_"'Cause you never know about love, baby,_  
_Must be messin' with them lanes, baby—"_

_"I can be what they ain't, baby,_  
_Get a taste of this fame, baby, baby!"_

_"Oh no,"_

_"Not me!"_

_"I never cheat,_" sang Jason.

_As if,_ Reyna's subconscious wanted to say, but the real Reyna ignored it. She was over that. Jason was with Piper. And if that meant that she didn't get the guy, big deal. There were plenty of other boys in the world.

_"Not me…"_

_"Don't get left all alone…"_

_"I think you've got me all wrong!"_

_"You're a liar, a cheat, unfaithful don,"_ the girls sang together. A ramp that extended outwards over the crowd appeared, and they walked onto that to get away from the boys.

_"Unfaithful don,"_ added Annabeth this time.

_"You threw away all our love and trust—"_

_"Love and trust!"_ yelled Reyna.

_"It's so hard to see just who you are,_  
_You've been stricken with amnesia."_

_"Amnesia!"_

Reyna heard Percy following on the ramp behind her. Just to prove her thoughts, she heard Percy sing behind her, _"I, I think you got me all wrong, girl..."_

_"I think that I don't,"_ interrupted Annabeth. She pushed past Reyna and stood face-to-face with Percy, a solid look on her face. Percy had a completely different expression, one that said _hey, can't we talk this through?_

_"I think, I think you got me all wrong,"_ said Jason.

_"You're playing your first,"_ Reyna sang, turning around to face him. Now it was Annabeth and Reyna standing side-by-side in front of Jason and Percy.

_"I wouldn't do you like that,"_ said Percy.

_"Yes, yes you would!"_ yelled Annabeth, taking a threatening step forward and nearly made Percy lose balance and plummet to his death below.

_"I think you got me all wrong, girl, girl, girl..."_ reassured Jason.

_"No,"_ sang Reyna.

_"I think you got me all wrong, girl..."_

_"I think that I don't."_

_"I think, I think you got me all wrong, wrong, wrong..."_

_"You're playing your first!"_

_"I wouldn't do you like that."_

_"Yes, yes you would."_

_"I think you got me all wrong, girl…"_

"_Amnesia!"_

The music stopped. Annabeth sighed and threw her headset microphone of her face and hugged Percy tightly. "You're forgiven," she told him just loud enough so only the four of them could hear. They walked back to the main part of the stage, the ramp retreating behind them.

"Thank you!" Jason joked at the crowd in a fake accent that Reyna couldn't describe as British or Australian. "You've been a wonderful audience." He draped an imaginary cape across his shoulder and bowed at the crowd. Percy followed his example. The two girls rolled their eyes and dragged them off the stage.

"That was fun!" Percy said enthusiastically as they walked back to the ground.

"No kidding," said Annabeth. She stopped walking and poked a finger into Percy's chest. Her voice turned stern. "Just don't make that song a reality again."

Reyna acknowledged Jason with a nod of her head. "You too," she added.

Percy and Jason shared a quick glance, then together they placed a hand over their hearts as if about to announce the Pledge of Alliance. "We swear," they said in unison.

"Good," said Annabeth, and she grabbed Percy by the arm and led him away. Percy looked back behind his shoulder and mouthed _bye_ to Jason and Reyna.

Reyna mouthed bye back.

* * *

**I know some parts of the song are inacurate when it comes to Percabeth (FOREVER!), but the main part of the song is about having amnesia. So that's why I chose this song. It kind of does makes sense, I mean, Annabeth and Percy, and Reyna and Jason were apart from each other for 8 months and the guys are telling them, _wait, there's more, this is way I left, _but the girls are like, _no way! You totally ditched me!_**

**Peace out! (For now.)**

**(JASPER! EVEN THOUGH IT KILLS ME TO SAY THIS, THIS IS A JASPER STORY.)**


	26. Dominos, and Olympian Girls

**Disclaimer: Too painful to admit.**

**Christmas over: Even more painful.**

**The fact that you're reading this right now and that I now have 114 FREAKING REVIEWS and that it's SNOWING OUTSIDE: Just made my day.**

* * *

**Victoria**

Unlike what most people thought, Victoria and Trivia were really close friends. So, sometime during the game show, they had signed up for a song.

"I can't wait!" Victoria squealed as one of the Pokémon in the arena to their left got smashed into the ground.

"Same here," said Trivia, and probably would have said more, but was cut short by a loud crash from the stadium. She turned to face it. "What is all that racket?"

Victoria shrugged. "Dunno. Probably some poor animals fighting to the death."

"Wouldn't put it past those Greeks to do that," Trivia replied casually.

"Wait. Weren't Romans the ones who did that?" asked Victoria with furrowed eyebrows.

"Who cares?" Trivia said. "The Greeks are doing it right now, why can't we do the exact same thing two thousand years ago?"

Victoria gave her a nod. "I see the logic," she said.

Trivia grinned. "They always do."

**-o-O-o-**

"Ready?" asked Apollo. Victoria and Trivia nodded. "Good luck," he said, and winked at Trivia.

"Oh my gods," Victoria whispered to Trivia. "He likes you!"

"No he doesn't," Trivia said all cutely. But then her voice turned stern. "And if he actually does, I'll be sure to **[This last part was edited out for the sake of young children. Thank you for your patience.]**" She bent her neck from side to side, issuing two loud cracks. Then she turned all bunny again. "Ready for this?"

"It's fun," Victoria told her. "I would know."

Trivia tossed her silky black hair behind her shoulder. (That myth saying that she changes appearances every eight hours? That was true maybe two millennia ago.) "Let's do this," she said.

Victoria probably would have said something back, but the twisting gut feeling occured, indicating that the time stop had finished, and the lights came back on. The rythmic music had started to play. Trivia shot Victoria a smile, then started.

_"I'm feeling happy and free!" _she sang. They both had their backs to the audience, up on the last step of a tall staircase.  
_"Like glitter's raining on me," _Trivia finished.

_"You're like a shot of pure gold!" _added on Victoria. Streamers of the colour—you guessed it—gold burst out behind the two minor goddess.  
_"I think I'm 'bout to explode."_

They whirled around to face the audience. A dancing light shone before them, changing colours rapidly.

_"I can taste the tension like a cloud of smoke in the air," _started Trivia, stalking down the steps, extending one arm outward as if to stop someone at her side.

_"Now I'm breathing like I'm running cause you're taking me there," _added Victoria, placing a hand on her chest.

_"Don't you know... You spin me out of control," _finished off Trivia.

_"Ooh ooh ooh ooh!"_

The both stepped down three steps; one for each _ooh. _A cloud of smoke drifted near the floor of the staircase, obscuring the goddess' ankles and two inch high heels from view.

_"We can do this all night—"_

_"Turn this club skin tight—"_

_"Baby, come on..."_

_"Ooh ooh ooh ooh!" _they both sang.

_"Pull me like a bass drum—"_

_"Sparkin' up a rhythm—"_

_"Baby, come on!"_

_"Ooh ooh ooh ooh!"_

Two twin explosions of sparks burst behind the two goddess, at the top of the staircase. Victoria felt a nice, warm tingling sensation on the back of her neck as this happened.

_"Rock my world into the sunlight!" _they chorused. Trivia held out her free hand in front of her as if reaching to grab a star, then pulled it in close to her as if hugging it.  
_"Make this dream the best I've ever known!"_

_"Dirty dancing in the moonlight!" _sang Victoria by herself. "_Take me down like—"_

_"I'm a domino!"_

_"Every second is a highlight!" _sang Trivia.  
"_When we touch—"_

_"Don't ever let me go!" _they sang in unison. Then, by herself, Victoria added, "_Dirty dancing in the moonlight! __Take me down—"_

_"Like I'm a domino!"_

The verse music came back on as the _oh _of the last word echoed all around Mount Olympus.

_"You got me losing my mind!" _Trivia yelled, pumping her fist into the air at the last word. Sparks shot off from the side of the staircase.  
"_My heart beats out of time."_

_"I'm seeing Hollywood stars!" _sang Victoria, keeping her eyes out ahead of her. She was waiting for something.  
"_You strike me like a guitar."_

Of course, a giant golden star floated down like a saucer toward the two goddess. (Trivia's idea.) It laid to a stop a few meters in front of them, hovering above the stage floor.

_"I can taste the tension like a cloud of smoke in the air," _sang Trivia, walking down the rest of the steps in unison with Victoria.

_"Now I'm breathing like I'm running cause you're taking me there," _added Victoria.

_"Don't you know? You spin me out of control..."_

_"Ooh ooh ooh ooh!"_

By then they were standing right in front of the golden star, which was shedding off a brilliant glow that reminded Victoria of a, well, a golden star shedding off a brilliant glow. For a moment, Victoria forgot what they were supposed to do and nearly stepped onto it. It was only Trivia that stopped her by giving her an unnoticeable nudge.

_"We can do this all night,_  
_Turn this club skin tight,_  
_Baby, come on..." _started Trivia.

_"Ooh ooh ooh ooh!"_

_"Pull me like a bass drum,_  
_Sparkin' up a rhythm,_  
_Baby, come on!" _sang Victoria.

_"Ooh ooh ooh ooh!"_

Now. Trivia and Victory shared a quick glance/nod and stepped onto the star, and all the lights turned pink, purple and red. Green lasers shot from the sides of the stage. The gold star rose higher and higher, and farther and farther away from the stage.

_"Rock my world into the sunlight!" _they sang together.

_"Make this dream the best I've ever known!" _added Victoria by herself.

_"Dirty dancing in the moonlight," _sang Trivia.

"_Take me down like—"_

_"I'm a domino!"_

_"Every second is a highlight!"_

_"When we touch, don't ever let me go!" _Victoria was starting to really like this song. When they had first decided on this one, Victoria had been a little skeptical. She never knew the artist—much less the song—had ever existed. (Victoria had to meet an artist to like them. Her list included Taylor Swift, Chris Brown, The Black Eyed Peas, Ke$ha, Justin Beiber, Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, Britanny Spears, Flo Rida, Boney M., Shakira, David Guetta, Enrique Iglesias, Katy Perry, Simple Plan, Kelly Clarkson, Fefe Dobson, Gym Class Heroes, Rihanna, ADELE, Maroon 5, Jennifer Lopez, Pitbul, Usher, Eminem, Kristina Maria, Bruno Mars, Marianas Trench, One Direction, The Wanted, and so many more it wasn't even funny.)

_"Dirty dancing in the moonlight," _continued Trivia.

_"Take me down like—"_

_"I'm a domino!"_

The colours of the lights turned dark; blue, purple, things like that. The light faded off the goddess. The star, now in the dark, had time to float back over to the stage.

_"Ooh, baby, baby, got me feeling so right," _started Trivia.

_"Ooh, baby, baby, dancing in the moonlight," _added Victoria.

_"Ooh, baby, baby, got me feeling so right..."_

_"Ooh, baby, baby, dancing in the moonlight."_

_"Yeah..." _sang Victoria a few octaves higher up and at the same time as Trivia sang _"Ooh, baby, baby, got me feeling so right."  
__"Ooh, baby, baby, dancing in the moonlight.  
__Ooh, baby, baby, got me feeling so right...  
__Ooh, baby, baby..."_

_"Ooh ooh ooh ooh!"_

That was when the lights returned. By then, the star had flown away, leaving Trivia and Victoria on the stage again; and this time, actually on the floor and not on the staircase. The star floated over the crowd and exploded into confetti.

_"Rock my world into the sunlight," _started Victoria.

_"Make this dream the best I've ever known," _sang Trivia.

_"Dirty dancing in the moonlight!"_

_"Take me down—"_

_"Like I'm a domino_!"

_"Every second is a highlight!" _Trivia started first this time.

_"When we touch don't ever let me go!" _they sang in unison.

_"Dirty dancing in the moonlight."_

_"Take me down like—"_

_"I'm a domino!" _

The lights flashed in their faces once, then resided. Trivia thought to herself, _W__ow, I am awesome. _

* * *

**Hestia**

Hestia checked her outfit in the mirror. She spun around to see the back. _Hm..._

She looked around her, where the rest of the Olympian goddess were getting ready. Aphrodite was pointing out some fashion tips to Artemis, who was pretending to pay attention while really staring at her outfit in horror. Athena was combing her hair right next to Demeter, who was straightening hers. Hera was standing by the endless trays of shoes, seeing if she could find anything with a peacock on it. All of them were in their Greek form, too lazy to switch Roman after the game show ended.

Hestia turned back to her mirror and was startled to find Aphrodite standing right behind her. Hestia jumped back.

"Yes?" she asked once she had regained control of her shock.

"Have your lines memorized?" Aphrodite simply asked. Hestia nodded. "Good," she continued. "You _do_ have the longest part in the song."

"It's just the chorus," Hestia told her. "I simply repeat it twice."

"Thrice," Aphrodite corrected, and then stalked away. Hestia rolled her eyes. She sure was making a big deal of all this... Probably to make up for the fact that she didn't have many lines. Hestia reached for the necklace lying on a chair next to her and tied it on her neck.

"Ugh," Artemis was complaining in the distance. "How do you wear this?" She was referring to the skinny jeans had Aphrodite coaxed her into putting on earlier. "Why am I even doing this anyway?" she asked out loud. "Bad enough the game show and Apollo—"

"I heard that!" a muffled voice protested from outside the room.

"—But this? A love song. _A freaking love song!"_ Artemis yelled.

"Hey, I'm here too," Demeter told her. "The last thing I want to do is actually _sing _with her—" she pointed at Aphrodite, who was currently spazing at Athena for some reason "—But, I'm here anyway."

"Besides," said Hestia, walking over. "We need six people. That's how the song works."

"And why you're even here," Aphrodite yelled from where she was rearranging a protesting Athena's hair.

Hestia didn't get this at first, but then realized that this was an _Olympian Girls'_ show, as Apollo had put it. And she wasn't an Olympian. Aphrodite had just managed to find an empty loophole and fill it with an unexpected insult.

"Hey!" Hestia protested, but that was when Apollo walked in.

"Girls, girls, girls," he said. "No time for cat-fights now. How long have you been in here? Ten, twenty minutes? We can't keep the time-stop going forever, you know."

Instead of replying, Artemis decided to throw a fit. "We could be changing in here!" she yelled at her brother.

"But you aren't," said Apollo. "You finished doing that fifteen minutes ago. Now come on." He gestured for them to follow him and left. They all did, except for Hera, who was still sitting among hundreds of pairs of shoes, still looking of one with a peacock imprinted on the side. Eventually, Hestia was the one to go back and drag her away from shoe heaven.

**-o-O-o-**

"_I don't need a thousand people screaming my name,"_ started Athena, from a platform, which rose from the floor. The rest of the goddess—minus Artemis and Demeter—were waiting from below, not being able to see what was happening above.

_"__I don't need overnight Hollywood fame," _Hestia heard Athena continue.  
_"I don't need platinum records up on my wall,_  
_I don't need a Lamborghini in my garage."_

"_Oh, ooh oh, ooh oh, oh!" _This voice was obviously Artemis'. Even though Hestia couldn't see it, she imagined Artemis walking out from the back to join Athena.  
"_Those thing won't last forever."_

Hestia felt her platform rising silently, heading for the stage floor. _"Oh, ooh oh, ooh oh, oh!" _Artemis was singing again. "_What I got is so much better!"_

She felt a misty fog gather around her face, evolving around her, concealing her from view until...

"_You and me on a summer night," _said Hestia, singing the chorus. She walked to the front of the stage where Artemis and Athena stood.  
"_Park that car, dancing in the headlights." _Hestia put a hand out in front of her as if to stop something, then let her shoulders dance up and down.  
_"You and I, late night drives—" _Hestia pointed to the audience, then to herself.  
_"Your hand in mine, and all your time!" _The goddess in question spread out a hand in front of her, then clasped her other one into it. (She was the only one with a headset microphone.)

_"I don't need money in my pocket, diamonds on my neck," _she continued, placing her hand to her neck, where the necklace she was wearing lay.  
_"The time I spend with you I know I'll never forget!_  
_You and me, is more than enough._  
_'Cause you make me feel like a Million Bucks!" _

That was when Demeter skipped out into view. _"I don't need a jet setter up in the sky," _she sang while twirling.  
"_I don't need a... na-na-name dropping guy." _She stopped spinning to face the front properly.  
_"I don't need a chauffeur waiting on me." _Demeter pointed at herself with both hands, and then extended her upper arm out as she had a towel draped over it.  
_"I don't need more than a t-shirt and jeans." _She pointed at her ripped and very worn out pair of jeans, and then plucked at her shirt. She along with Athena and Hestia rounded around to let Hera—who had magically risen from below without being seen—have the spotlight.

"_Oh, ooh oh, ooh oh, oh," _she sang.  
_"Those things won't last forever._  
_Oh, ooh oh, ooh oh, oh!  
What I got is so much better!"_

"_You and me on a summer night!" _sang Hestia again.  
"_Park that car, dancing in the headlights." _She pretended to steer an imaginary wheel.  
_"You—" _point "—_and I—" _point "—_late night drives,_  
_Your hand in mine, and all your time."_

_"I don't need money in my pocket, diamonds on my neck," _she continued with the chorus.  
_"The time I spend with you I know I'll never forget._  
_You and me, is more than enough." _Hestia heard something rise from the floor behind her—Aphrodite.

_'"Cause you make me feel like a Million Bucks!"_

"_You make me feel..." _Aphrodite sang, the lights fading off everyone except her. The single light on her was white, glaring off her equally white Greek dress and super-blonde hair. Hestia would have rolled her eyes at her seriousness, but she was too busy choking back laughter and trying to sing backup for her at the same time to do that.

_"You make me feel like a Million Bucks," _Aphrodite finished. Hestia hadn't realized it, but she had nearly finished all her lines.  
_"Like a Million Bucks, Yeah!"_

The lights flashed back on, and the six goddess stepped forward.

_"You and me on a summer night!" _Hestia, Artemis and Athena sang.  
_"Park that car, dancing in the headlights."_

_"You and I, late night drives," _continued Demeter, Aphrodite and Hera.  
"_Your hand in mine, and all your time!"_

_"I don't need money in my pocket, diamonds on my neck!" _the original trio sang, but only Artemis added, "_The time I spend with you I know I'll never forget!"_

_"You and me, is more than enough!" _sang Demeter, Aphrodite and Hera, though Demeter was the one to add, "_'Cause you make me feel like a Million Bucks!"_

"_You make me feel!" _started Aphrodite as the melody, while everyone else echoed with a, _"You make me feel..."  
__"You make me feel..." _continued Aphrodite with a continuing _feel. _The rest of the goddess sang in unison; "_'Cause you make me feel like a Million Bucks!"_

The song ended and the lights flashed once before blinking out completely.

It was dead silent.

Apollo broke it with his clapping. "Great work, girls," he said. "One more practise before I go ahead and discontinue the time stop?"

* * *

**Ha! They girls' song was just a dress rehersal. (I thought about the idea, then decided I needed to do one of those.)**

**Victoria: Nike  
Trivia: Hecate**

**VICTORIA AND TRIVIA ARE NOT OCs. PLEASE, DON'T SPAZ ABOUT THIS. They're just in their Roman state, since I think some god(dess) would be like that, and some wouldn't.**

**GO CIMORELLI! AND REVIEW! REVIEWS ARE ALWAYS GREAT!**


	27. Contest!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Annabeth. **

* * *

**Annabeth**

_If you are reading this, congratulations! You are now qualified to vote in the contest Bookworm1756 is holding. The question is, which performance in this story was the best? Was it Other Direction? Or maybe it was Gangnam Style, or Die Young. Either way, now if the time to vote! You have until the end of this story to submit the answer for your favourite singer or group. The last chapter will contain the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. Awards will be cookies! (::) (::) (::)_

_RULES  
-Maximum two votes per person.  
-Have until the story ends; which means you can also vote for future performances.  
-You can review or PM Bookworm1756 your votes.  
__-Choose wisely, and have fun!  
-THERE IS NO EXCUSE TO NOT VOTE. UNDERSTOOD?  
_

Annabeth didn't get any of this. She had been walking toward the food courts when she saw the flyer pinned to the side of one of the tables. Who the heck was Bookworm1756? And what did (::) mean? She had no clue, and it was really rare for that to happen to Annabeth, since she was a daughter of Athena. She shrugged it off. Maybe it would become clear later.

* * *

**Remember this! NO EXCUSES. YOU MUST VOTE. IT IS MANDITORY. Even if this chapter was updated a LOOOONNNG time ago, you can still vote!**

**So vote.**

_**Now.**_


	28. Co-pilot

**Disclaimer: Don't own PJO or HoO. Sadly.**

**I've got 132 reviews! Freaking out, freaking out, freaking out!**

* * *

**Jason**

Jason felt a little bad after his performance with Percy, Annabeth and Reyna. Piper was his girlfriend. He should be singing a song with her, not Reyna. But it was fun, performing. Maybe to make it up to her, they could do a duet or something.

That was all it took for an idea to appear.

He wasn't too sure if whether or not Piper wanted to join him, though. If she did, he already knew the perfect song.

So he walked up to her while Victoria and Trivia were doing their song. She was at the snack table, stuffing her mouth shamelessly with cake. But when she spotted Jason, she stopped being so blatant.

"Hey," she said, her voice muffled by the remaining cake stuffed in her mouth. Embarassed, she held up a finger to indicate for Jason to wait as she swallowed. "What's up?" she asked, a bit of red staining her cheeks from embarassment.

"Wanna perform together?" Jason asked. Piper seemed a little startled by this question.

"But didn't you just go?" she asked, a little bit of unwanted concern slipping through her voice. "Are you sure you want to go again?"

"Well, if you don't," Jason muttered quietly. Piper cocked her head with a thinking look on her face.

"I don't care if you sing with Reyna," she said, and Jason felt an enormous weight lifted off his shoudlers, mostly because it looked as if Piper actually didn't care and wasn't saying that just so Jason could be happy.

"Nothing to do with Reyna," Jason told her, even though this was maybe 9% untrue.

Piper studied his face a little longer. "Sure," she agreed. "Have you tried this?" Piper held up her plate of cake. "It's sooo good." She picked up a piece and shoved it in her mouth, closing her eyes to savor the taste. She picked up another slab with two fingers and held it out for Jason. He shook his head.

"No thanks," he said.

Piper smiled. "You know you want to," she said in a slightly sing-songy voice. Jason gave in and ate the cake.

They stayed by that snacktable a lot longer than he had expected.

**-o-O-o-**

Piper slipped her hand into Jason's and squeezed it assuringly and affectionately. Jason turned toward her, and she grinned up at him, being a lot shorter. Jason found that she was the best girlfriend a guy could have; she was smart, funny, caring, loving, affectionate—and the fact that she was cute didn't hurt.

"Five!" Jimmy yelled. Piper squeezed Jason's hand once more before zipping off to her side of the stage. Jason walked over to the place where he was supposed to appear and crouched down, feeling the floor sink to an underground room. How that could have appeared without anyone in the crowd noticing, Jason had no idea. The eight-year-old in him secrectly wondered if he was in another dimension of some kind.

Jason heard Jimmy yell, "Two, one!" just as he felt the tug he found revolting occur in the pit of his stomach. Though he couldn't exactly see what was happening above, he imagined purple and pink lights dancing over the heads of the people in the crowd below.

Jason started to count in his head. _One... two..._

He had to go pee. Why was it that every time something big was about to happen and he was crouched down at the same time, he had to go pee?

_Six... Seven..._

He had to count to sixteen before his first line. That was what he was told by Apollo. But his mind was suddenly blank. What were his lines anyway? He started to panic silently, and that did not help the peeing problem.

Jason lost track of his counting, and now he had three things to worry about. After failing to find his correct place on the number chart again, Jason dropped it and decided to take his best shot when the time came. He shifted on the spot, feeling slightly uncomfortable in his position.

_"Eyo!_  
_Co-pilot,"_ Jason remembered to start right on time.

_"Co-pilot..."_ Jason's voice automatically echoed through his headset microphone. It felt a little odd, hearing his voice repeat over and over without moving his lips or being officially recorded._ "Co-pilot!"_

_"We can go where you wanna go,_  
_We just gotta fuel it up,"_ Jason heard Piper's voice sing somewhere above him. He wished he could see her perform. Oh well. _C'est la vie._

_"Try catching us if you can,_  
_This flight ain't about to stop. No..."_ Piper's voice sounded closer than before. Jason felt his podium raise higher and higher to the stage level. He shifted into a standing position, catching notice of the fact that his podium had a giant yellow star on it at the same time.

_"There's no need to buckle up on this joyride,"_ Jason sang. The podium started to revolve on the spot, not helping matters.  
_"Please leave your seat back up, push it upright,_  
_Come join this eerie island way of life. Woah!"_ Jason felt the lights and heard the screaming clearer and clearer the more he rose. Finally, his head poked out of the ground, but the podium stopped rising at the knees. Just before starting the chorus, he jumped up with both feet and landed on the stage floor. The podium continued to rise above him without anyone standing on it.

_"We're going up up up till the stars are below,"_ he continued to sing, pumping a fist into the air above is head and holding it there throughout the line.

_"I'm gonna take this club to the city of love,"_ added Piper sneaking a sideways glance toward Jason. Man, she's beautiful, he thought silently.

_"Come, we're gonna go flying—"_ At this, Jason extended his arms outward as if he were a plane and ran over to the other of Piper.

_"Oh, I need a co-pilot,"_ sang Piper, standing still and pointing at herself.

_"Baby, be my co-pilot, eh eh!_  
_With every puff puff puff, girl, the higher you go!_  
_Out on the dancefloor, anything is possible!_  
_Come, we're gonna go flying—"_ Jason wrapped two arms around Piper's neck from behind and made a paper airplane out of his hands and pretended to fly it in front of Piper. She pushed away from him (spinning I might add), intentionally stretching out her arm toward her boyfriend. Jason catched her hand just before she slipped to the floor.

_"Oh, I need a co-pilot,"_ Piper sang.

_"Baby be my co-pilot, eh eh eh!"_

Jason let go and Piper stumbled away. He felt the spotlight fade off of him. Without skipping a beat, Jason ran off to the side where a staircase led him off to an elevated part of the stage, maybe three meters above the floor.

By the time he got there, Piper was just finishing, _"Chilling in the mile high club, oh oh..."_

_"Baby, there's no need to buckle up on this joyride,"_ Jason sang into his headset, leaning as far as the ever-changing colour railing would let him.  
_"Please leave your seat back up, push it upright,_  
_Come join this eerie island way of life. Woah!"_

"_Because we're going up up up till the stars are below!"_ Jason continued, pumping his fist in the air. He also quickly took notice of the fact that white paper airplanes of all sizes and sorts were weaving in, out, through and over the crowd below.

_"I'm gonna take this club to the city of love,"_ sang Piper below. She placed both hands on her heart and let her knees drop her half a foot. Streamers of pink, red and white shot out beside her.

_"Come, we're gonna go flying—"_

_"Ooh, I need a co-pilot."_

_"Let me be your co-pilot."_

_"Eh eh!_  
_With every puff puff puff, girl, the higher you go!"_ Jason added on from before.  
_"Out on the dancefloor, anything is possible!"_

_"Come, we're gonna go flying!"_

_"Oh I may need a co-pilot."_

_"I can be your co-pilot,"_ sang Piper, and she whirled around to face Jason. She winked at him, and added,_ "Yeah...!"_ Jason sang, _"Eyo!"_ and swung both legs off the railing and pushed off, landing on an invisible trampoline (yes, it was invisible. Don't be so surprised) and bouncing back up a foot or two, then land on the ground next to Piper.

_"Co-pilot!"_ sang Jason.

_"Co-pilot!"_ Piper seemed to echo.

_"Co-pilot...!"_

They repeated this eyo with the co-pilot idea once more. Finally, Jason sang, _"'Cause we do it like this, and we never goin' quit."_ Piper sang about two beats before him, "_'Cause we doing like this..."_

_"Well, after the DJ and the pretty girls and boys_  
_We'll be up in the cockpit, yeah,"_ sang Piper, having finished her long octave note. She rocked her head to the side.

_"Because after we do this, we'll be flying through the air,"_ added Jason, and right afterwards Piper performed the echo/singing/pumping-fist-into-the-air-in-a-higher-voice thing with, _"Flying through the air!"_

_"Well, after the DJ and the pretty girls and boys,_  
_Are up in the cockpit," sang_ Jason. Somehow, Piper managed to keep her line going through all of his without wavering her voice the slightest amount. Jason found that incredible.

_"Going up!"_

The music continued to play even though no one was singing. Somehow, a paper airplane from the crowd managed to fly its way up to the stage and nearly hit Jason. He swatted it away without touching it. (Ah... The advantages of being a child of Jupiter.) The plane swerved to the right, lost momentum, and plummeted to the stage floor.

_"I'm gonna take this club to the city of love!_  
_Come, we're gonna go flying..."_

_"We're going up up up till the stars are below_," Jason sang.

_"I'm gonna take this club to the city of love,"_ sang Piper. More paper airplanes, seeing how the first one had reached the stage, started to fly upward. Jason stole a quick sideways glance; the first airplane still lied a few feet to his right. He flourished his hand invisibly, and the airplane shot into it.

_"Come, we're gonna go flying,_  
_Oh, I may need a co-pilot._  
_Baby, be my co-pilot, eh eh!"_

Jason gave Piper the paper airplane. She gave him a childish really? look, but took the gift anyway.

_"With every puff puff puff, girl, the higher you go,"_ sang Jason. Right after he said this, Piper sang, "_The higher you go!"_

_"Out on the dancefloor, anything is possible!"_

_"Anything is possible!"_ Piper dragged the hand not holding Jason's gift through her dark brown hair as she sang.

_"Come, we're gonna go flying,"_ Jason sang.  
_"Oh, I may need a co-pilot._  
_Baby, be my co-pilot, eh eh!"_

_"...Eyo!"_

The music continued to play dubstep for a few seconds, but then it blacked out. Jason couldn't see anything, and nothing happened for about five seconds. He breathed heavily, and was about to reach out for Piper's hand and leave the stage with her, when he felt her wrap her arms around his neck. Jason heard the distinguishable noise of a headset being turned off.

"Will you be my co-pilot?" Piper silently asked. Jason couldn't be sure in the dark, but he was pretty sure he saw her smile.

But he was pretty sure of the kiss she gave him afterwards.

* * *

Drew

Drew thought she never wanted to sing again, after her performance with the Stolls. She had never been disgusted by someone more in her life, and that was coming from a girl who knew both Piper McLean and Sadie Kane.

And, uh, news flash! She wasn't even Korean! (Japanese, hello?)

But somehow that sing-on-a-stage-with-all-of-Olympus-watching-her deal had sparked something inside of her. Though she wasn't too sure what it was yet, she had definitely learned a thing or two about herself on that stage.

And now that feeble spark was starting to ignite.

* * *

**RANDOM FACT OF THE DAY (did this because I hadn't done one for the last chapter even though it was technically just an author's note.)**

**Waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy before the idea for this story occurred, every time I heard the song Our Song Comes On by Kristina Maria, I thought of Annabeth singing it while watching Percy cheat on her with Rachel. I have no idea why this happened. (But the ending is happy, and it all turns out to be a misunderstanding [Rachel was just flirting with Percy, and Percy was trying to lose her], and Percabeth reigned supreme!)**

* * *

**First thing:  
****I KNOW THE GENDERS SINGING THINGIES ARE SLIGHTLY OFF AT THE BEGINNING (Jason singing Kristina's part, Piper singing Laza's part, whatever), BUT IT WAS MEANT TO BE! (Okay, not, but I was too lazy to go back and correct it.)**

**Second thing:  
****In The Serpent's Shadow, Sadie mentions two girls, Sadie and Drew. It is unknown if this is the same Drew and Lacy in HoO, but we are 99% sure because Sadie said that Lacy told her that she and Drew went to a summer camp together. So... It is impossible not to draw the conclusion that Drew and Lacy are in both series. Oh, and because Rick actually confirmed it.**

**Third Thing:  
****Song: Co-pilot.**

**Makes kind of sense, since Jason is the son of Jupiter, and Jupiter rules the sky, and planes fly in the sky.**

**Final thing:  
****Still need those votes, people! And you are allowed to vote twice.**

**AND I AM KEEPING TRACK OF HOW MANY TIMES SOMEONE VOTED. DON'T THINK YOU CAN FOOL ME.**

**And you are allowed to vote for future songs, so maybe unless you are 100% sure you love past songs best, I would wait to vote. I will tell you when this story is done and the voting is last-minute. And if you say so, you can change both votes... ONCE. And only if you mention it in your PM or review.**

**AND I AM VOTING AS WELL... WITH MORE THAN JUST TWO VOTES!**

**Sure, now think it isn't fair. Well, let me tell you something, whoever you are. I'm the one who worked my butt off the past two months to keep you happy, and got in trouble from my mom from using the laptop too long, so I think it's fair enough.**


	29. This Is War

**Disclaimer: You know.**

**And what I said in the last chapter about me getting more than two votes and then gloating, that was seriously mean of me. So I apologize sincerely, and to make it up to you awesome guys, I only get two votes as well. I shouldn't have yelled, since you guys are the people who actually made me continue this story.**

**And this is going to be a long, sort of sad flashback story. But it is also one of my favourite chapters, if not already in the number one position. So I hope you guys like it, but if you don't, please don't flame. I just did this because I thought it was nice and because I thought you'd find it nice too. I mean, it is what makes this chapter long, and I owe that to you guys, since I haven't updated for a while.**

**WARNING: Third flashback contains spoilers for MoA.**

**Thank you _ShadowandMadonna_ for the song.**

* * *

**Connor**

Connor and Travis were impulsive guys. They got a thought. Bam! Everyone at camp knew about it. They saw something. Tell everyone about it.

Get an idea; only one thing to do.

Do it.

So that was where this story's chapter begins, right after _Co-Pilot_. Apparently the performing list was empty, so Apollo just played dancing music until some brave person decided to step up.

That was where Travis got his idea. He said to Connor, "We should sing again."

"Again?" he asked to clarify. Travis nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "I got two songs in mind. But we'll need a few more people for the second one."

Connor asked, "Drew?"

Travis gave him a shake of the head. "She'll still be pissed about what we did a few chapters ago."

Connor started to say something, but stopped. "That was only a few chapters ago?" he asked stupidly. "So that means it was only a few hours ago. Man, it feels like such a long time ago."

"Well, technically it is," said Travis. "Bookworm1756 started this story the seventeenth of November."

"So that means that in five days in real-world time, it'll be the two month anniversary. Huh."

"No," said Travis slowly. "In six days."

"Look," said Connor, and started counting on his finger. "Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen! Five days."

Travis did the same. "Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen! Six days."

"You don't start at twelve."

"Yeah, you do. Today is the twelfth of January."

"But you start counting on the day afterwards."

"No, you don't."

"Uh huh! You do!"

So, after pointless arguing on what day it was in the real-world, they started to discuss the possible members of their group. (Katie somehow managed to get on the list. Connor was pretty sure for what reason.)

Thirty minutes later they had their bunch of six—Gwen, Bobby, Katie, Jake, Will and Nyssa—in front of them. Katie had her answer nearly immediately.

"There is no possible way." Katie said forcefully with her arms crossed across her chest in a definite _no_.

"Come on," persuaded Travis. "It'll be fun."

Connor did cute puppy-eyes and clasped his hands together in front of him. "Please?" he asked all innocently.

The other five muttered amongst themselves, not sure what to say. Katie still firmly stood in her no-way-you-must-be-out-of-your-mind stance.

"I guess it could be fun," whispered Will.

"It's worth a shot," added Nyssa.

"You must be kidding me!" cried Katie, throwing her arms up in frustration and facing the offending five. "They already performed twice. Who cares if they go again?" She turned toward the Stolls. "I don't know how you got that Japanese girl to perform with you, but I am—"

"Wait wait wait wait wait," interupted Travis. He turned toward his younger brother. "She was Japanese?"

Connor scrunched up his nose as if he had just smelled something bad or was thinking intensely. Then he put on a mask of stupid understanding. "Oh!" he exclaimed.

Katie slapped her forehead.

"Listen," she continued, dragging her hand down to the side of her face. "I still don't even understand why I even bothered come. You guys can count me out." She turned on her heels and marched away. Travis sighed. "I better go get her," he told Connor, and headed off in the direction his crush had left. Connor smiled. Ah, good ol' Travis falling heads over heels over some girl with a nice smile. (Connor still didn't understand why it was 'heads over heels.' You already had your head over your feet, so the expression didn't explain much. Connor thought that it would be much more appropriate and explainatory for it to be 'heels over heads.')

Nyssa stepped forward with her hands on her hips. "Well, I don't see why she was so rude about it," she muttered just loud enough for everyone in their small group to hear without meaning to. But she didn't seem to notice. "I'm in." She directed this last part to Connor.

Jake and Will shared quick looks with each other, then stepped forward in unison. "We're doing it as well," said Jake for both of them.

Apparently, the Romans didn't want to be left out either, for both Gwen and Bobby joined their little singing group as well. Connor explained the song they would sing, handed out each individual their parts, and gave them advice on what to change into in the dressing room.

He rubbed his hands together. "I'm going to see what's taking Travis and Katie so long," he told the others, and left to find his brother.

Connor had to search fifteen minutes to find Travis. It looked like a cake exploded in his face, with bits of it in his hair and a white frosting splattered on his face. "How did it go?" Connor asked. Travis shrugged.

"It could have been worse," he said simply. He traced a finger across the side of his cheek, gathering up frosting on it. He licked his finger, and after a moment of savoring its taste, nodded in an impressed way. "Not bad," he said.

"And what did Katie say? Is she joining our group?" Connor asked as they made their way back.

Travis thought for a moment. "It was very unclear," he decided. The brothers passed by Leo, who was speaking to the other Prophecy Seven kids about something, (maybe persuading), and Drew, who was hovering by the sign up sheet unsurely, but shot a glare at the Stolls that could kill as they passed by. "She wouldn't stop yelling, so I have no clue," Travis finished.

Connor sighed. "You have quite the way with girls," he muttered in a way he hoped sounded as if he were speaking to himself but really making it loud enough so Travis could hear the not-quite-a-compliment at the same time. "I guess we'll soon learn," he continued in a louder voice. "As I searched for you, I added our group to the list. We're on in twenty minutes."

Travis rubbed his glazed-with-frosting hands together. "Perfect," he said through a smile.

**-o-O-o-**

Twenty minutes later, Connor smiled as he looked down from the stage at the frozen people below. He sighed. It would have been an excellent cliff-hanger to leave off at that line break above, but Bookworm1756 was so fed up with cliff-hangers; first The Lost Hero, then The Son of Neptune, and finally the worse one of them all, The Mark of Athena. Bookworm1756 didn't want to become a troller like Rick, so she decided to continue the chapter.

Connor looked behind him. Nyssa and Gwen were practising their dance moves together. Bobby and Travis were talking about something apparently very explosive judging on the extreme hand-gestures, Jake was staring aimlessly into space—probably thinking about what was about to come—and Will was still in the dressing room, maybe getting changed, maybe throwing up in a bag.

Katie hadn't performed a last-minute wait, I wanna join you guys act, so they had simply assumed that she had ditched and was somewhere in the middle of the timestop, frozen. But so far, Connor hadn't been able to spot her in the crowd. But, then again, the crowd was huge.

Connor and Travis both knew the second song very well, since their mom had it on a CD and listened to it all the time before she died. (Didn't like to talk about it.) They chose the first song just because it tied well with the second one.

Connor hadn't realized it, but Travis had been silently sneaking up on him. So when he said, "Whatcha thinkin' about?" right in his ear, Connor nearly had a heart failure. Nerves calm again, he replied—

"Nothing much," he replied, then asked, "Hey, for the second song, are we doing The Killers version, or the Young Soul Rebels one? I can never remember."

"Young Souls," replied Travis easily. Behind them, Gwen and Nyssa did some sort of jump/jazz hands move Connor was pretty sure they had made up themselves since it was so terrible looking.

"Got it," replied Connor. He turned around and cupped his hands over if mouth and yelled, "Alright, people! Practice one! Hit it, Jimmy!"

* * *

**Travis**

Travis had to admit, the first song didn't have many lines for their back up crew. It was mostly him and Connor, and—

Okay, it was all him and Connor, but they had gathered up a group for a reason, right? They got the second song. Travis did feel a little bad about not having Katie in their group, even though he did try. And, okay, maybe he had a tiny crush on her, but it wasn't a major deal like Connor made it out as.

The starting music started to play. Travis hadn't realized it, but the timestop had ended, even with the sickening churn in his stomach. He smacked himself on the head to wake himself up. He gave two thumbs up to Connor, who stood behind him, (they were hiding behind a black curtain at the back of the second floor of the stage), and quickly snatched his microphone which lay next to him. He flipped the switch on and prepared himself with deep breathing exercises and counting down 'til his first line.

_Ready... Now!_

The music was slow. The song was slow. Travis didn't particularly like slow songs, but this was an exception. He really liked his first line, not because of the lyrics, but because of the fact that he didn't have to leave the comfort of the fairly large—but cramped and dim-lighted—room he stood in.

_"A warning to the people,_  
_The good and the evil,"_ he started. Even though he couldn't see the crowd, he imagined them going crazy over his awesome voice that the microphone had somehow turned a lot manlier. (Not that Travis' voice wasn't manly already, uh...)

Travis shot a quick look at Connor and couldn't help but feel a smile coming on as they sang in unison—

_"This is war..."_

_"To the soldier, the civilian,_  
_The martyr, the victim,"_ Travis continued.

_"This is war..."_

Travis suddenly felt a tightening in his chest, and he nearly had to gasp for his next breath. Not now, Travis, he told himself. Stay strong. Now is not the time for your stupid flashbacks.

But he felt himself slipping into one anyway.

**_-O-o-O-_**

_It was a Monday of January, and Mom was picking up her two boys from elementary school. Travis was turning eleven in less than a week, and both boys were excited. (Connor because of the cake. Mom rarely ever made cake, so when the little kid got to have some, it was always a great treat.)_

_"Mo-om," said Travis, getting into the front seat of the car, Connor climbing into the back. "I don't wanna go to school on my birthday."_

_"Me neither!" called Connor from behind. Their mother thought for a moment, then pulled out of the school's driveway._

_"Mom?" asked Travis, still waiting her reply. Finally she gave in._

_"All right," she said, turning her head sideways to face her eldest son. She patted his leg affectionally. After a while, she added, "Here," and pulled off the road. "I'm going to take you guys out for a treat."_

_"Where?" Connor asked, all excited._

_Mom looked back a him with a sparkle in her eye. "You'll see," she said, and turned back toward the street ahead of her._

_Eventually she pulled out of the friendly neighbourhood and headed toward the deserted part of town. Travis and Connor were both warned not to go there by the frightening stories the other kids at school told them about the haunted place. Nobody lived there. Nobody would hear your scream if you were killed in some vicious and gorey way._

_"What are we doing here?" asked Connor a little nervously, holding his school bag on his lap and hugging it tightly to his chest. Travis looked back to face him._

_"Oh, grow up," he told Connor. When he thought his back was turned, Connor made a face at his older brother._

_"Hey, no fighting," their mother said, breaking up an argument before it started. "We're just taking a short cut."_

_"Okay," said Connor. He opened his mouth to probably add on to this, when he stopped. His eyes grew wide in what Travis supposed was fear. He gasped loudly and pointed somewhere in front of the car, letting out a loud scream. Travis' head shot around as well, just in time to catch something large and covered in short black fur crash head-on into the windshield._

_Travis would later learn at Camp Half-Blood that it was a hellhound._

_The car skidded backwards onto someone's deserted lawn. The monster clawed at the side windows with its massive paws, trying to break inside. Connor and his mother started screaming. Travis couldn't; he was too scared. He had no clue what was that thing, and all he could do from avoid entering shock was to grab at the sides of his chair, willing himself to wake up from this terrible nightmare._

_Their mother flipped a switch, and the windshield-wiper started to drag the hellhound off the car. It just looked down at it in annoyance and ripped it off the hood of the car with its massive black paws, hitting the glass as well and issuing a long, deep crack along the front window._

_"No! Not now!" their mother kept yelling to herself. Connor kept screaming in the backseat. Travis unconsciously reached for the sidedoor to escape, but his mother stopped him. Travis looked at her, and was surprised to find that the initial shock had apparently left and her face was mask of calm. This reassured the younger Travis a whole lot more._

_"Stay here," she said in a tone that managed to stay on the same level. "I'm getting out of the car. When I tell you to run, you grab your brother and you run all the way back to your school. Understand? And whatever you do, don't turn around."_

_"Mom," wailed Travis. The hellhound slammed his paw down on the glass again, and this time half of it shattered, showering sharp shards of glass all over Travis and his mother. Connor continued to scream._

_But his mother didn't listen to her son. She reached under the seat of the car and pulled out a sheath, and drew a foot-long knife. Connor stopped yelling just long enough to gasp._

_The hellhound kept slamming down on the glass, having tried to get in through the hole but paying the price as well. (Two bleeding paws in five places.) Somehow the window managed to not fail by then, but it was growing weaker by the second. Travis' mother stabbed the hellhound in the paw as he reached down again, stalling enough time to shoo Travis into the backseat of the car with his brother, away from the falling glass._

_The monster howled in pain, and lept off the hood. It started to stalk the car from a distance, waiting for someone to get out._

_"I'll distract it!" yelled their mom, kneeled on the fake-leather seat. "The backdoor. Get to the school! Hurry!"_

_"Why the school?" demanded Travis. He felt as if he ought to know, considering the situation._

_"No time," their mother cried. "Out! Now! And I love you both very much," she said in a lower and much calmer voice. Travis felt his heart swell up, knowing very well that this may be the last time they saw his mom, in wrecked car in the middle of a haunted neighbourhood, being attacked by a monster. Connor leaned forward and hugged her. She hugged him back and kissed his mop of curly brown hair. She pulled away._

_"Go!" she repeated._

_The hellhound was now more interested in the mother rather than the children now, as the mother was the one who had the pointy knife. So when the trunk door was swung wide open, the monster didn't even notice. Connor grabbed his knapsack and bolted. Travis hesitated and turned back with pleading eyes to where his mother kneeled on the seat._

_"Travis," she said carefully but sternly. "Take care of your brother. Protect him. Promise me."_

_"Mom—"_

_"Promise me, Travis," she demanded in a wavering, but stern, tone. Travis spotted tears in his mother's eyes._

_Travis felt his own tears well up. "I—I promise," he told her._

_Mom seemed to relax a little. "Good," she said, but then more forcefully added, "Go! Go now!"_

_Travis ran out the trunk door and didn't look back. Later on, at Camp Half-Blood, he regretted not taking that last backwards glance of his mom._

_Connor and Travis reached the school by dark, and camped outside the gym doors for the night, not knowing what else to do. The next morning at around six, Connor's math teacher arrived early and spotted the two boys sleeping outside the school. They arrived at Camp Half-Blood by three that afternoon._

_Travis never learned where his mother planned on taking him and Connor._

_**-O-o-O-**_

Travis was suddenly returned to the present. He looked around; same room, same singing situation, same Connor.

_"It's the moment of truth, and the moment to lie,_  
_The moment to live, and the moment to die,"_ sang Travis in unison with Connor with his eyes closed, trying very hard not to cry. He shot a sideways glance at his younger brother, who was grinning broadly at him, unaware of what Travis had just re-lived.

_"The moment to fight,_  
_The moment to fight,_  
_To fight,_  
_To fight,_  
_To fight!"_

Travis took in a deep breath and walked out onto the stage. The bright spotlights nearly blinded him after being in that dim-lighted room for so long. He was aware of the screens behind him showing off pictures taken during the second Titan War and the war against Gaea's forces, but he didn't register the pictures themselves. He was still too shocked from the past memory of him Mum to do that. All he could really do was sing the lines he had memorized what felt ages ago.

_"To the right, to the left,"_ started Travis.

_"We will fight to the death,"_ added on Connor.

_"To the edge, of the Earth."_

_"It's a brave new world from the last to the first—_  
_To the right, to the left—"_

_"We will fight to the death."_

_"To the edge, of the Earth."_

_"It's a brave new world—"_

_"It's a brave new world!"_ The brothers sang together. The verse music started to play for a while before Connor started—

_"A warning to the prophet,_  
_The liar,_  
_The honest."_

_"This is war..."_

_"Oh!_  
_To the leader,_  
_To the pariah,_  
_The victim,_  
_The Messiah,"_ sang Connor  
_"This is war!"_

_"It's the moment of truth and the moment to lie_  
_The moment to live and the moment to die,"_ the brothers sang together.

_"The moment to fight, the moment to fight,_  
_To fight,_  
_To fight,_  
_To fight!"_

**_-O-o-O-_**

_It was one of the days during the fight in New York during the second Titan war. Katie was upset with Travis. He didn't know why. Maybe because for some reason, she was way too overprotective over her plants. And children of Hermes are very handy with the potions._

_So Katie was just a tiny bit upset that Travis had fed steroids to her tulips and caused them to turn carnivorous. As in, human-eating carnivorous._

_So maybe that was why she sent Travis and Connor to the front line of defence where they were more likely to get killed when for some stupid reason someone put the Demeter and the Hermes cabin in charge of the same Manhattan entrance._

_That first day, Travis and Connor managed not to be killed. But it started to go bad about two hours into the combat._

_Travis had been cut in the leg severely, and blood had started to spill—a lot more than Travis had really wanted—but he refused to have it cleaned up if it meant to be doing nothing to help their side for more than five minutes. He took the square of ambrosia gratefully, munched on it, and re-entered the battle on one bad leg._

_Bad idea. He wasn't any help at all, and he only managed to nearly kill Chris, much to his annoyance. Finally, he let one of the Apollo campers (who had gone with the Demeter and Hermes cabins) to clean up his leg under the saftey of a tent nearby, away from the bloodshed. He was told to stay there as he let his bandaged leg heal. As much as it pained him to do it, he did._

_Well, for the first five minutes he did._

_Travis had been lying there for twenty minutes, staring up at the tent roof thinking of nothing, when he decided he couldn't take the wait anymore. When the Apollo healers weren't looking, he sat up, groaning, and carefully swung both legs off the cot. He winced when he put pressure on his bad leg, but decided it was bearable. He hobbled out of the tent and leaned against one of the posts holding it up. He could spot a small part of the battle from there, and from what he could see, it wasn't going very well. He had to go help._

_He tried to walk, but his stupid injury made it hard to. Travis reached into his pocket and fingered a small square of ambrosia. The Apollo healers had given him two squares already, but they were afraid Travis would burn up if they gave him three. He decided to risk it, and he popped the square of ambrosia in his mouth. It melted and his leg instantly felt a whole lot better. It still wasn't perfect, but now it felt more like a giant paper cut down the side of his leg rather than a half-inch deep cut. Hand on the sword that lay to his side, he started to jog back over to the battlefield._

_That was when he spotted Katie._

_She was doing her best, growing vines that trapped monsters until someone would come along and kill them, some sort of blue flower that when stepped on exploded, and peashooters, which, until the moment, Travis had been pretty sure only existed in _Plants vs. Zombies.

_But what Katie hadn't realized was that a Telekhine had been sneaking up on her from behind with its sword ready. Without thinking, Travis yelled, "Katie, look out!"_

_Katie spun around to face Travis in annoyance, when she caught sight of the monster ready to kill her. She gasped and took a step back away from the monster, unsteadily pulling out a dagger from her side._

_Their duel lasted five seconds._

_Now disarmed, Katie flung her arms over face as if to protect herself. Travis tried to run over, but his stupid cut wouldn't let him run faster than a jog. But he had to do something. He drew his sword and held it by the handle as if it were a spear, and threw it with all his might._

_The second Travis let go he realized it was a terrible idea. What if he hit Katie instead? Travis had thrown spears at Camp Half-Blood before, and he was one of those students that sometimes hit the target, sometimes hit pedestrians. And he had just thrown away his only weapon, so that was pretty stupid._

_But the sword hit its mark right in the Telekhine's side, and it disintegrated into a fine powder on the spot, it's armour and weapon clattering down on top of Travis' sword. Katie, realizing that she should have been dead by then but wasn't, cautiously lowered her arms, expecting to see a sword coming down on her face. But the monster was gone. Confused, she looked down and saw the armour, but not Travis' sword. Still wondering what happened, she continued to grow her plants._

_Katie hadn't realized that her arch-enemy had just saved her life._

**_-O-o-O-_**

_"To the right, to the left,_  
_We will fight, to the death!"_ Travis sang, closing his eyes.

_"To the edge, of the Earth,_  
_It's a brave new world from the last to the first—_  
_To the right, to the left,_  
_We will fight, to the death!"_ sang Connor.

_"To the edge, of the Earth,_  
_It's a brave new world,_  
_It's a brave new world,_  
_It's a brave new world!"_

The music continued to play.

Travis' eyes shot open. Without meaning to, he gazed into the crowd and caught sight of Katie watching him. He stared right into her eyes for five seconds, hoping she'd realize something—anything, really.

At first she didn't. Katie just stood there with her arms crossed, gazing up at Travis in disgust. But then it started to dawn on her.

_It was you,_ she mouthed, at Travis. He wanted so badly to reply to this statement, to tell her that yes indeed he was the one that saved her life a year ago during the Titan war. But he had a song to finish.

Taking in a few shaky breaths, Travis continued.

_"I do believe in the light._  
_Raise your hands into the sky."_

_"The fight is done,_  
_The war is won._  
_Lift your hands toward the sun..."_ added Connor, now realizing that something was wrong with his older brother.

_"Toward the sun..."_

_"Toward the sun..."_

_"Toward the sun..."_

The people in the audience started to chant, _"Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight..."_

_"The war is won..."_

Travis closed his eyes again. Fighting was bad. Fighting should be stopped. War should be stopped.

War must be stopped.

**_-O-o-O-_**

_It had been two weeks since the Argo II had left for New Rome. No one was really feeling cheerful at the time, knowing there was a war raging on. (The Stoll brothers hadn't pranked for weeks—that's how bad it was.) And what didn't help matters was that Chiron had announced a game of Capture the Flag. Nobody really wanted to play—even the Ares kids, which was pretty new for them—but the centaur kept telling all the half-bloods that the best they could possibly do for the Prophecy Seven kids was to train so they could win the war when combat occured._

_So the camp gave in to a quick round of Capture the Flag. As always, Demeter cabin versus Hermes. Travis walked over to Katie, who was busy choosing a weapon._

_"Katie," he greeted her. She barely looked up._

_"Stoll," she replied._

_Travis made a face. "Why do you always call me by my last name?" he pouted._

_"Why do you always call me by my first name?"_

_Travis thought. "Because it's the normal way to address someone younger than eighteen," he decided. "And because I choose to," Katie looked up and picked up a random sword._

_"Exactly," she said through a sarcastic fake smile. "I choose to." She rolled her eyes and walked away._

_Travis started to run after her just to annoy her a little more, when he smelled something odd. "Hey, Katie, wait up!" he called out, dismissing the odd fragrance. Katie stopped and whirled around, annoyed. "What?" she asked._

_"Good luck," said Travis simply._

_"And may the odds be ever in your favour," muttered Katie under her breath, crossing her arms. Travis narrowed his eyebrows._

_"What?" he asked. Katie shook her head._

_"Nothing," she said. "Just something from a book."_

_Travis put on a mask of confusion. "A book?" he asked teasingly. "What's that?"_

_Katie rolled her eyes, but stopped. "What's that?" she asked._

_"Oh, so now we're playing the repeat-after-me game, huh?" said Travis. Katie didn't bother roll her eyes or tell Travis that he an idiot._

_"That smell... What is it?" she asked. Travis inhaled deeply._

_"Smells like smoke," he decided._

_"Smoke?" asked Katie in confusion, then her face turned to terror. "Smoke!" she cried loudly. She ran over to the Omega of cabins, and Travis followed her. A fire was raging on at the Hephaestus cabin. For a crazy moment, Travis thought Leo was back, when he realized the sky was illuminating with fire as well._

_Someone was shooting flaming cannon balls at the camp._

_Some people screamed as a cannon ball landed on some racks of weapons. Another one flew over their heads and landed somewhere in the forest. Soon, arrows were flying toward the Greeks as well. One nearly hit Travis in the face._

_"What's going on?" someone yelled._

_Chiron was busy smacking himself on the head, muttering, "I thought we had more time, I thought I had time to warn everyone..."_

_That was when Travis spotted the Romans._

_Rows and rows of them, all heavily wearing armour and yielding a weapon. Leading the large group, were two silver and gold dogs and an elephant holding a Roman on its back. Two slingshots large enough to launch a cannonball brought the rear._

_As the Romans were all demigods, they easily passed through the camp's protection borders. Peleus shot fire at them, realizing it was an invasion, but someone easily shot a drugged arrow at him, and the great big dragon instantly fell into slumber. Travis drew his sword and got ready to fight—for whatever reason the Romans were attacking them—when he realized someone was missing._

_"Where's Connor?" he asked. No one heeded him any attention. _

_But it turns out Connor was the one who found him. "What's happening?" he demanded. Travis started to say something, but shook his head._

_"I don't know," he replied._

_Connor drew his sword. "Whatever the reason, I'm ready to fight." He looked up at his older brother as if waiting for his approval._

_Travis nodded. "Let's go kick some Roman butt," he said._

_..._

_It had been an hour of fighting. All of the cabins except for Percy's were torched on fire. No one knew why the Romans were attacking them, though Travis tried to interogate them while dueling._

_"Why"—slash—"Are"—stab—"You"—block—"Fighting us?" —Stab._

_The Roman just grinned cruelly. "Why don't you ask your little fire friend?"_

_Now Travis was confused. "What?" he demanded. "I mean, Leo's a nice guy, he—" But then Travis decided he had enough of this guy. He ditched his sword and performed an amazing backwards stunt that left the Roman unconscious on the ground._

_"That was fun," he said to himself, dusting off his shirt and picking up his sword from the floor._

_It didn't take long to find another Roman willing to fight him. As they fought, he looked at Travis questioningly. "Didn't I just see you over there?" he asked._

_Travis nearly laughed at this guy's stupidity. "It's called a sibling," Travis lectured, and when he was finished fighting the guy, he dashed away to find Connor._

_He quickly found him battling some girl with a scar across her face. Travis helped him by knocking her out from behind. "Thanks," said Connor, out of breath. "She nearly had me there."_

_Travis nodded shortly. "C'mon." They sneaked away from the combat to a deserted area._

_"What did you learn?" asked Connor. They had previously made a deal to split up and see if they could find any information about why they were fighting Romans._

_"That the Romans are upset because of something Leo did," explained Travis. Connor looked at him as if he were out of his mind._

_"Leo Valdez?" he asked._

_"I think so," said Travis._

_"But what could Leo do?"_

_"Maybe torch a few hills and historical statues."_

_"Ah. That must be it."_

_"What did you find out, then?"_

_"That Romans really don't like it when they are teased, then beaten immediately afterwards."_

_"I mean about the fight."_

_"Oh. Well, uh, I guess nothi— Look out!"_

_Travis spun around just in time to see a Roman ready to heave his sword down onto the two boys. Travis quickly rolled away and tumbled to his feet, and Connor did the same. The Roman quickly regained balance and held his sword out in front of him, ready to fight the brothers._

_"You can't duel both of us at once," taunted Connor, but the Roman didn't pay any attention. He went immediately into battle, hacking and stabbing so well that Connor and Travis combined barely stood a chance against him._

_"You know, you fight pretty well," admitted Travis leisurely._

_"For a Roman," added Connor._

_The Roman didn't acknowledge this taunt. He continued to fight the two brothers until he was cornered with his back a foot away from a burning cabin. Realizing that he had lost, he carefully raised his hands above his head, letting his sword fall to the ground. Travis looked sideways at Connor._

_"That was easy," he commented._

_The Roman glared at them for a few seconds, then inched away slowly from the fire. The Stolls kept their weapons trained on their prisoner._

_"Should we make him do jumping jacks?" asked Connor._

_"Nah," replied Travis. "Push-ups are a lot harder."_

_Connor considered this. "True—"_

_It happened so fast. The Roman reached down to his side and pulled out a foot and a half long knife from its sheath, and expertly threw it at Connor, all in less than a second._

_If this had been a normal battle, the armour that Connor would be wearing would have protected him._

_But he wasn't wearing armour._

_Connor's sword fell to the ground. His knees buckled and he fell forward to the ground, and a pool of blood started to form where the dagger hit him. Travis gasped and threw his sword down, kneeling in front of his brother. Connor was breathing, but his eyes were starting to glaze over._

_Travis pulled out a piece of ambrosia from his pocket. He could sense Connor was still alive, but he couldn't tell for how much longer. He force-fed the godly food into his brother's mouth._

_Travis' mother's voice swam inside his head. "Take care of your brother. Protect him. Promise me."_

_"I—I promise."_

_Stupid promise._

_**-O-o-O-**_

Travis wiped away a silent tear. The drums played, and with a shower of glitter that felt empty and meaningless to Travis, he continued.

_"To the right, to the left,_  
_We will fight to the death!"_

_"To the edge of the Earth,_  
_It's a brave new world from the last to the first—_  
_To the right, to the left,_  
_We will fight to the death!"_ added Connor.

_"To the edge of the Earth,_  
_It's a brave new world,_  
_It's a brave new world—"_

_"It's a brave new world!"_ they chanted as one.

_**-O-o-O-**_

_The Roman was smiling cruelly from afar. The flames behind him seemed to make him appear more evil than he was, if that was possible. Finally, Connor eyes glazed over completely._

_Travis felt someone gently—but firmly—grab his arms and pull them behind his back. He felt the cold hard metal of shackles encase his wrists, and felt himself be led out of camp, into one of five waiting Roman vans, lined up in a neat row to contain prisoners of war._

_Five Romans died that day. Sixteen Greeks—including Travis—were taken prisoner. Nine Greeks were killed._

_Travis was held in a prison at the Roman camp for three weeks, until the Romans realized their mistake and let them all go. They escorted their freed captives back to Camp Half-Blood, and there Travis was more than overjoyed to find Connor alive. In a cot at the infirmary, but alive. Travis didn't care how it was possible. _

_Perhaps the reason was important._

**_-O-o-O-_**

_"A brave new world..."_ echoed Travis. Somehow, these three memories he hated and wished he would forget forever brought a newfound strength in him.  
_"The war is won..."_

_"The war is won..."_ repeated Connor, only now realizing what Travis had just been through.

_"Oooh,"_ chanted the people below.

_"A brave new world!"_ they sang together.

* * *

**Hope you liked it and it wasn't too depressing! Review!**

**PS,_ -O-o-O-_ means flashback. -o-O-o- means line break, but same person's POV. ... means line break in same POV when in a flash back. Got it?**

**PPS, I tried to make it obvious, but for people who didn't catch it, Travis doesn't have flashbacks like Hazel does. All it is is a memory coming back to him.**

**PPPS,**  
**Song: This Is War - 30 Seconds To Mars**

**PPPPS, I know in the actual book, the Hermes and Demeter cabin aren't put together to defend a New York entrance—or they might be. (Man, I really need to re-read TLO.) If this is the case (D and H cabins not battling together), sorry, had to do it for the flashback. Just use your imagination and imagine.**

***Barney song starts to play***


	30. Surviving with JB

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO or the gods and goddess of Olympus, but neither does Rick! So ha! (I mean Greek Mythology in general. PJO and HoO are sort of his.)**

**And I have a feeling you guys are going to like the second song...**

_**FranAdams-DaughterofAchelois **_**requested the first song, and _ShadowandMadonna _sort of wanted the second one. Sort of. So they are dediacted the chapter. Sort of.**

_**WARNING:  
SUPER TRATIE IN THIS CHAPTER. BE CAUTIONOUS OF WHAT YOU MAY EXPERIENCE.**_

_**TRATIE FOREVSEES!**_

* * *

**Travis**

People started to cheer for the awesome Stoll brothers, though their show wasn't over yet. The lights dimmed and the music continued to play right where _This Is War_ ended off. Two spotlights shone on the stage and on the far corners of the stage. One of the silver lights was trained on a girl from Camp Half-Blood you may know as Nyssa. She rose up to second floor stage level from a platform on the right side, with Gwen on the other. Travis couldn't help but feel a little mad at Gwen, figuring the horrible memory of Romans he had experienced in the previous chapter, but he pushed it down. It had been a mistake, after all.

_A mistake that nearly cost your brother's life, _said something in him. He pushed that away as well, though he knew deep down that it was 100% true.

_"When there's nowhere else to run," _started Nyssa into her microphone slowly.  
"_Is there room for one more son...?_  
_One more son..."_

The soft music continued to play a little more strongly. Gwen, who had just had her back to the audience, spun around. Travis had to admit, she looked pretty nice. She and Nyssa were both wearing stylish black boots with skinny jeans, though Gwen had a flowing purple/blue shirt on while Nyssa wore a pink sweater zipped up half-way. But, of course, Travis wasn't saying she looked nice in an I-have-a-crush sort of way. It had just been the first adjective to come to mind when he saw her. Nice.

_"If you just hold on," _Nyssa sang, stepping forward onto the second level with Travis and Connor in unison with Nyssa. She flashed a broad smile at the crowd below.  
_"If you just hold on,  
Hold on!"_

Travis, Connor, Nyssa and Gwen started the chorus in unison, up from the top of the stage. Nyssa and Gwen kept walking forward on a plank that extended outward over the first level.

_"I got soul but I'm not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I'm not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I'm not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I'm not a soldier."_

_"Yeah...!" _yelled Nyssa into the microphone. The curtains on the first level of the stage were pushed aside and two boys with the names Will and Jake sauntered out. Jake walked right up to the edge of the stage and lifted his hands upwards twice, as if asking the crowd for more volume and cheers. It worked. Will joined him with his microphone right up to his mouth and started—

_"Look, for peace in the world I'm a big supporter,_  
_All these kids in the world wanna drink is water.  
__But the conflict destroys the bricks and waters,_  
_See pain in their eyes, I can feel the torture."_

"_When there's nowhere else to run," _sang Jake.  
_"Is there room for one more son...?_  
_One more son..."_

_"If you just hold on," _added on Gwen, leaning as far out as her railing would let her.  
_"If you just hold on,  
H__old on!"_

_"I got soul but I´m not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I´m not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I´m not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I´m not a soldier," _all six of them sang as one. Travis stole a quick glance at Connor, and together they bounded off the stage in their own directions.

As Travis descended the stairs that led to the first floor of the stage that were out of sight from the audience, he was able to hear Jake rap,  
_"Listen, you got no love 'cos you never received it._  
_And that's 'cos you never did teach it._  
_Preach this, let the kids go,_  
_'Cos love is a motion trapped in the soul!"_

Travis reached the bottom of the stairs and started to wait. He could spot Connor sing, stepping out—

"_When you think your battles are won,_  
_Then you find its left undone...  
L__eft undone..."_

_"If you can hold on," _added Nyssa.  
_"If you can hold on..."_

_"Hold on!" _yelled Gwen hoarsely. Travis winced. That had to be hard on the throat.

_"I got soul but I'm not a soldier," _the four of them sang.  
_"I got soul but I'm not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I'm not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I'm not a soldier."_

Travis bounded out of his hiding place, microphone ready. He twirled it across his fingers agile-like. He caught it and lifted it to his face.

_"Yeah, see me in the type that will die for a cause," _he rapped.  
_"But no kids should die for a war—"_

_"Oh!" _interrupted Nyssa and Gwen together.

_"Let's fight for a cause,_  
_Pray for better days,_  
_When the going get tough there's a better way," _continued Travis without skipping a beat.

_"Face,  
You know if having better days,_  
_No more pain, my life's got a better page._  
_And no kid should die for water—" _Connor sang where Travis left off.

_"Oh," _sang Nyssa as Gwen sang, _"Yeah...!"_

_"I can find in there eyes of the Lo-oh-oh-ord," _finished Connor.

_"I got soul but I'm not a soldier," _chanted the crowd.  
_"I got soul but I'm not a soldier."_

_"I got soul," _added Jake, leaning forward on her railing.

_"I got soul but I'm not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I'm not a soldier..."_

_"Oh ooh oh ooh oh oh!" _sang Nyssa and Gwen.

_"Yeah, let them breathe in air," _started Travis.

_"No choker," _added Connor.

_"I got soul, so my heart stays open," _continued Jake.

_"Stop the war so when the kids aint copin',_  
_I see light, look over the ocean!" _finished Will.

_"Yeah...!" _cried Nyssa over the longest period of time.

_"Not a soldier!" _cried Connor.

_"Yeah-eh-eh,  
You know you got to help me out!" _sang all six of them.

_"Y__eah-eh-eh,  
Oh don´t you put me on the backburner-er-er,_  
_You know you got to help me out,_  
_Yeah-eh-eh,  
You´re gonna bring yourself down."_

Travis stopped, expecting Connor to start singing, when he heard an different voice completely.

_"Hold on and then,  
__Last call for sin," _Katie sang, coming out from the same curtain Jake and Will had.  
_"Where everyone's loves a battle is done.  
__With all these things that i have done."_

Travis felt someone put a gentle and caring hand on his shoulder. He didn't have to turn to know it was his 'crush'.

"_I got soul but I'm not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I'm not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I'm not a soldier,_  
_I got soul but I'm not a soldier."_

Travis breathed in deeply, hearing the end of the song. He did it. He had survived both songs.

Travis turned for the closest person and gave them a great hug. It wasn't until later that he realized that that person was Katie.

Sure, the girl was startled. But she wasn't upset.

At least, not as much as she could have been.

* * *

**Katie**

Katie owed Travis an apology. She knew that much. So when the song ended and they were shooed off the stage, she confronted her enemy.

"So, Stoll," she said, hands on her hips. Travis sighed dramatically.

"Even when you're apologizing you address me by my last name," said Travis, and he shook his head sadly.

"Fine. Travis," said Katie, feeling annoyed. "And who says I'm apologizing?"

Travis gave her a blank stare.

"Fine," said Katie, throwing up her arms in surrender. "You got me. I'm apologizing."

"For?" asked Connor, who Katie hadn't even realized was there. She wrinkled her nose at him.

"Shoo, child," she told him.

"Hey hey hey," said Travis, stepping protectively in front of his brother. "Only I get to tell Connor to leave."

"Yeah!" yelled Connor, then realized what Travis had just said. "Wait—what?" he demanded.

"Shoo, child," said Travis to his younger brother. Connor grumbled something unintelligent and marched off. Travis turned back to Katie. "Continue."

"I'm sorry," she said.

"For...?"

Katie felt annoyance mix with anger somewhere in the pit of her stomach. "Sorry that you are so annoying!" she yelled, running her fingers through her hair. "Ugh! You are _not _making this easy."

Travis smiled. "That's my job."

Kaie really wanted to slug him. And a part of her kept murmuring _Do it! Right on the nose! _But she resisted. She closed her eyes and breathed, trying to wash away all of her anger and frustration. She opened her eyes again.

"Look, Travis," she said sweetly. "I know you have a crush on me."

That caught Travis by surprise. "You do?" he asked, bewildered. Then he caught himself. "Uh, no I don't." He laughed nervously.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Wow, that just totally convinced me." _You have the upper hand now, _the evil in Katie told her. _Use it to your advantage! _

"I also know I've been cruel to you," she continued humbly. "Maybe more than I should have. You saved me, back at the second Titan war, and I owe you my life for that. I hope you'll forgive me." She paused. "I'm done."

Travis was startled. This wasn't what he had suspected Katie to say at all. "So...you're truly sorry," he said slowly, trying to process it.

_What? _the evil Katie within demanded. _No! You don't do that! You— _

But Katie heeded no attention to it.

"I think I have to apologize too," said Travis. "I mean, I _was _one of the guys who pranked your cabin forty-seven times."

"Forty-eight," Katie corrected. "So... You forgive me being mean, I forgive a prank?"

Travis narrowed his eyes. "Ten pranks."

"Five pranks."

"Twenty pranks."

"Fine!" Katie yelled. She turned around to walk away. "Just don't think this means anything," she threatened, disappearing into the crowd. She managed to hear Connor return and nudge his brother. "She likes you," he said in a sing-songy voice.

Katie marched back and yelled at Connor with an acusing finger,_ "I DO NOT!"_ She marched off, muttering, "Boys... They're so... UGH!" She caught up with Lou Ellen near the washrooms.

"Travis totally likes you," she said.

"You really think so?" Katie asked hopefully. But she caught herself. "You really think so?" she asked, changing the tone of her voice to sound as if she didn't care either way.

Lou Ellen laughed. "Girl, I don't _think _so," she said. "I _know _so." She wrapped her arm around Katie's shoulders. "That guy is falling heads over heels for you."

"That's crazy," scoffed Katie, pushing her off.

"You know you like him too," she said in a sing-songy voice.

Katie crossed her arms and willed herself not to look at Lou Ellen. "I do not."

Lou Ellen stayed quiet for a moment, and for a moment, Kaite believed she had given up. But she was proven wrong when her BFF started to sing;  
_"Oh whoa-oa-oa-oa-oa..."_

"Uh... Lou? What are you doing?" Katie hissed into her friend's ear.

"Singing!" she yelled.

"Oh, Louie..." Katie warned, but Lou Ellen paid no attention to her friend.

_"You know you like him, he makes you care," _she sang.  
_"You shout whenever, and he'll be there." _Lou Ellen crossed over to the other side of Katie when she tried to walk away.

Katie backed away for a moment. "I don't like him!" she told Lou Ellen, not convincing anyone.

_"He is your homie, you are his heart,  
And in the Fields of Blessed you'll never be apart," _she continued batting her eyelashes at her BFF. Katie started to yell at her.

"You can be _so _annoying sometimes, Lou, and I—I demand you to stop singing right now!"

_"Say he's worthless? Girl, quit playing," _continued Lou Ellen, attracting quite a bit of attention.

Katie was really annoyed now. (She almost always was.) "Lou, stop," she pleaded, but Lou Ellen didn't pay any attention.

_"'I don't like him,' what are you saying?" _she continued. She hopped from foot to foot in front of Katie with her hands formed into a heart shape.  
_"Say that phrase and look right into his eyes,_  
_We both know together you'd be sublime..."_

"Oh no," muttered Katie, knowing what was coming next.

_"__And he was like Katie, Katie, Katie, oh!" _To Katie's horror, Lou Ellen started to dance around her. Whenever she tried to move away, she'd just cut in front of her line of pass.  
_"Like Katie, Katie baby, no!_  
_Like Katie, Katie, Katie, oh!_  
_He thought you'd give in by now, now..."_

"Oh my gods, Lou," said Katie, moaning into her hands. "This isn't some kind of musical! You can stop singing now!"

"Not until you admit that you like him!" yelled Lou Ellen, continuing with the chorus.

_"Katie, Katie, Katie, oh!_  
_Like Katie, Katie, baby, no!_  
_Like Katie, Katie, Katie, oh!_  
_He thought you'd give in by now, now now..."_

"Lou, you better stop right now, or—"

Lou Ellen did stop. "Or what?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. A few spectators started to boo at this pause.

"I don't know!" yelled Katie. "I'll think of something! AND YOU PEOPLE CAN SHUT UP!" (She directed this last comment to the unpleased audience they had attracted.)

Lou Ellen frowned. "Nah," she decided, and started the second verse.

_"Oh, for Tratie I would have done whatever,_  
_And I just can't believe you guys ain't together."_

Katie waved off the people starting to gather around them. "Don't mind her!" she called out to them, but nobody left.

_"And I wanna play it cool, but I'm losin' you,_  
_He'd get you anything, you'd meet in the ethers.  
__And now I'm on my knees begging you to get together."_

Katie was tugging on her friend's arm. "Shut up shut up shut up!" she hissed. Lou Ellen shoved her off.

_"And just shake me 'til I wake me from this bad dream,_  
_I'm going down, down, down, down..." _Lou Ellen added to the performance by actually sinking down to her knees.  
"_And I just can't believe Tratie might not be around."_

"You gave us a couple name?" demanded Katie, starting to feel uncomfortable with the amount of people watching. "This is so..." She stomped her foot down in frustration when she couldn't come up with anything. "UGH!"

_"Like Katie, Katie baby, no!" _Now it wasn't just Lou Ellen singing on her feet once more; it was their entire crowd. People started to clap to the rhythm of the music.  
_"Like Katie, Katie, Katie, oh!_  
_He thought you'd give in by now, now..."_

Katie covered her face in shame. She actually pretended to sob so that people would stop, but when that didn't work, she dropped the act.

_"Katie, Katie, Katie, oh!_  
_Like Katie, Katie, baby, no!_  
_Like Katie, Katie, Katie, oh!_  
_He thought you'd give in by now, now now..."_

Katie thought that was it. She thought that by the rap Lou Ellen would stop. She did, but that was when Jacob from the Nike cabin got involved.

_"Kates! _

_"When you were 12, you had your first love,_  
_There was nobody that compared to your baby_  
_And nobody came between you or could ever come above._

_"He had you going crazy, oh, you were star-struck,_  
_He woke you up daily, don't need no Starbucks!"_

_"Ooh!" _chanted Lou Ellen.

_"You made his heart pound, it skipped a beat when he saw you at the cabins and_  
_At Capture the Flag but he really wanna see you on the weekend._

_"You know you got him dazing, 'cause you are so amazing,_  
_And now my heart is breaking just knowing Tratie won't be forever—"_

Everyone started to chant while dancing that sort of hop dance Lou Ellen had made up,

_"And he was like Katie, Katie, Katie, oh!  
__Like Katie, Katie baby, no!_  
_Like Katie, Katie, Katie, oh!_  
_He thought you'd give in by now, now..."_

If it wasn't bad enough already, Katie spotted Travis and Connor headed their way. She tried to shush everyone quiet, but that just caused them to spot Travis and sing louder.

_"Katie, Katie, Katie, oh!_  
_Like Katie, Katie, baby, no!_  
_Like Katie, Katie, Katie, oh!_  
_He thought you'd give in by now, now now..."_

"Please, stop!" Katie yelled frantically. But too late; Travis caught sight of what was going on. Katie ran over and started to explain that this was some big mistake and that the people behind her singing _Baby _with the lyrics changed to _Katie _didn't mean anything, when he started to laugh.

_"I'm gone...  
Yeah Yeah Yeah, Yeah Yeah Yeah..."_

"Don't like me, huh?" he asked. Katie's cheeks burned an even brighter and hotter red.

"They're fault entirely," she cried desperately to set the blame, pointing behind her.

_"Now I'm all gone...  
Yeah Yeah Yeah, Yeah Yeah Yeah..."_

"It's okay," said Travis.

Katie was sort of taken aback. "It is?" she asked, confused.

_"Now I'm all gone...  
Yeah Yeah Yeah, Yeah Yeah Yeah..."_

"Sure," said Travis. He shrugged shyly. "To tell you the truth, I sort of like you too."

_"Now I'm all gone  
Gone, gone, gone..."_

Katie remembered the first conversation she and Travis had had on the first day she had came to camp. She had been twelve, and Travis already had one bead on his camp necklace.

_"Hey, I'm Travis," he introduced. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. You'll be staying in the Hermes cabin—the best cabin _ev-ah, _I might add—until you're claimed."_

_"What's claimed?" Katie asked._

_"It's when you're godly parent doesn't think you're worthless anymore and tells everyone that you are his or her child," he replied. "I don't think it'll take very long for you, though."_

Katie hadn't realized that he had complimented her until that moment, up on Mount Olympus, with fifty demigods and maybe even a goddess or two (*coughAPHRODITE!cough*) singing _Baby_. She hadn't realized he had liked her for _that _long.

_"I'm gone..." _the people behind her finished. But then they started to chant, _"_Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss—!"

(And you can guess who's brother took the lead position in that.)

Katie was about to yell back at them to shut up, when Travis leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips. Katie was too stunned to say anything or to even jerk away, even if the kiss was only half a second long. She stood there, opening and closing her mouth uselessly, hoping something would come out.

Nothing did.

Luckily, Lou Ellen came to the rescue and looped her arm around Katie's and led her off away from the washrooms, crowd, and Travis.

"Girl," she whispered to her, "You've got to invite me to the wedding."

"No promises," said Katie, looking over her shoulder.

* * *

**Connor**

"I've been telling you," Connor kept repeating to his older brother as they walked away from the Tratie fans. "You like her, she likes you. How long have I been telling you that? Hmm... I don't know. Maybe we could go back a couple years to when I was eleven, and—"

"Got it, Connor," interupted Travis, a little annoyed at his brother's ranting.

"And you guys are totally meant to be together. Like, Aphrodite and the Fates have decreed it, man!"

Lachesis, one of the Fates, passed by them. "Stupid demigods, always knowing what we've decreed," she muttered, stuffing a slab of cake in her mouth. Travis face-palmed.

"It's just a tendancy we have!" Connor yelled back, but she was already gone. "Sheesh," he said. "So rude."

"And it's not like they decree anything _important, _you know?" asked Travis. "Wait, I take that back. They do decree some good stuff, but would it _kill _them to release their info to the world? Like, _come on! _Oracles have an excuse—they've gotta be mystical and whatever. But the Fates... Couldn't they decree your death and then tell you?"

"You know, them decreeing your death isn't the only way to die, you know," said Connor.

"Really?" asked Travis. "So it's Joey's fault over there you got stabbed by a dagger, huh?"

Connor's hand subconsciously ran over his chest, to where a scar was just starting to heal. The boy sighed and looked down at his feet.

"Real miracle-workers, those Apollo kids," he quietly lied.

* * *

**And before you start yelling at me, I will tell you this; Connor will have his flashback! **

**Just not today.**

**MUAHAHAHAHA I AM _SOOO _EVIL!**

**Songs:  
I Got Soul - Young Soul Rebels  
Baby - JB (Changed up by me!)**

**Review!**

**And the first song had no action in it. I. KNOW. But that wasn't the point. It was the freaking lyrics that made me post this chapter. (Or the first half, anyway.) So if you skipped it just 'cause there was no 'action', GO BACK. NOW. I KNOW YOU DID IT. I CAN READ MINDS.**

**No, I can't. But wouldn't it be so awesome if I could?**


	31. Prophecy of Seven

**Sorry this chappie took so long— You have no idea how hard it was to find the perfect song for this chapter. Some were too fast, some were too slow, and some were just sad.**

**(Learn about it in the next AN at the end— Don't wanna spoil anything.)**

**And, last Friday night, I was up writing the first two chapters for a new story that will be the sequel to this one. No spoilers because even though I have a gazillion ideas, I may not use them all.**

**Disclaimer: PJO and HoO not mine.**

**_Mythomagic101:_ It isn't a cliffhanger. It's simply a _To Be Continued..._ thingy, which is different, I think.**

_**OHMIGODS! This is the chapter!**_

**And it's long, just saying. Not as long as the Travis-Flashback chapter, but still long. It makes up for my days of absence!**

* * *

**Hazel**

Even after the performance, Hazel still wasn't 100% sure why and what just happened. She guessed the story started off when Leo walked up to her and Frank and started asking where Percy, Annabeth, Jason and Piper were.

"I dunno," Frank had said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Because I need to tell you guys something," explained Leo. "As a group."

Hazel raised an eyebrow.

"Is this another idea the Stolls had and bullied you into?" she asked.

"What? No!" scoffed Leo. "They just...uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck while laughing nervously, which _totally _convinced Hazel that he wasn't hiding something. "Not the point," he continued. "What I need is to know where they all are."

"Jason and Piper at the snack table, eating cake," Hazel told him. "Percy and Annabeth are probably making out in the corner or something."

"Thanks," said Leo, and he hurried off. Hazel turned to her boyfriend.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," she told him.

"Good," Frank replied. "Because I thought it was just me."

**-o-O-o-**

"You want us to _what!?"_

"Guys," said Leo defensively. "It's not a bad idea, I just thought it could fun for all of us—"

"Leo," said Jason. "All seven of us already sang at least twice. Poor old Annabeth did it, like, twenty times."

The brainiac didn't bother correct him.

"So, really, what's the point?" finished Jason a little bit harshly, even for him. And when one of the leaders of the group disagreed with something, everyone followed. Hazel took pity on her friend and decided to help him out a little, just so the embarrasment wouldn't be so great.

"I guess it could be fun," she told their group.

"Yeah," agreed Frank awkwardly. _Thank you, _Hazel told him telepathically.

"I'm in too," said Piper, raising her hand slightly as if to count her in.

"Depends what song," said Percy, tilting the chicken wing he was eating at Leo and splattering a bit of its BBQ sauce on the floor.

"If Percy can do it, I can," said Annabeth. The group stayed silent as they waited for Jason's answer. He opened his mouth probably to say, _No way! You guys are all psycho!_ But instead he sighed and gave in.

"Fine," he said. "But what song are we doing? We can't exactly find a group in real life that has seven members in it in less than an hour, can we?"

"We could come close," said Piper.

"Cimorelli?" suggested Annabeth. Percy was so horrified he dropped his chicken wing.

"I am _not_ singing in a girl's group!" he yelled quite loudly.

Leo face-palmed. "We aren't doing Cimorelli," he told everyone.

"One Direction?" asked Jason. "Because if you don't recall properly, I can tell you— We already did that."

"Not that either!" said Leo.

"ABBA?" asked Frank.

"The Beatles?" asked Piper.

"Adele?" asked Percy. When people started to give him funny looks, he asked them, "What?"

"We aren't doing any of those!" yelled Leo. "Now, if you'd just let me finish—"

"Green Day?"

"The Killers?"

"The Wanted?"

"Let the boy wonder finish!" thundered Leo, his nose unintentionally catching on fire. The group quieted down, and Leo patted out his flaming nose. (Ha! How many times a day do you hear that sentance being used?) "We aren't doing just one group," he explained in an I'm-trying-to-be-patient-with-you-guys-and-you-aren't-helping tone, like someone trying to tell a three-year-old that one plus one wasn't thirty-four. "We're doing twenty-five," he finished.

The group of six stared blankly at him. If Percy had another chicken wing, he probably would have dropped it again. "You're kidding, right?" he said.

"Not the slightest amount," said Leo, shaking his head a little.

"Oh, no," muttered Jason. He ran his hand through his blond hair. "Leo's finally cracked."

Leo suddenly realized what his friends had perceived what he had just said as. "Oh my gods, guys. We are not doing twenty-five individual performances!"

"Whew!" Piper exclaimed loudly. Then she noticed the glare Leo was giving her and stared at the ground awkwardly. "So... How many songs are we doing exactly?"

Leo had the nerve to roll his eyes. "One, Piper. Just one. Ever hear the term 'mash-up'?"

The six of them looked at each other and in unison sighed in understanding.

_"Ohhh..."_

**-o-O-o-**

Hazel looked at herself in the changing room mirror. The song's lyrics lay next to her, with her lines highlighted in yellow and her name above the part, labelling it as hers. Piper stood nearby, already changed, pacing the room, muttering to herself, "This is going to be epic!"

Hazel took notice of the fact that that innocent line was the same thing Leo had said back at Camp Jupiter before he blew it up. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the thought.

Annabeth was still trying to memorize her lines, the script nearly touching her nose, while pulling on her shoes at the same time. She messed up which side was which and put her left shoe on her right foot and her right shoe on her left foot. She wore her dress inside-out. The guys were in the other change room, probably doing something even stupider.

Hazel looked at herself. Out of the three girls, Piper was the only one who didn't wear a dress. Hazel's was silver, if you are wondering. Sequined at the bottom, with only one thin strap on her right shoulder to hold it up. She got to wear a short black jacket to cover her bare shoulders, but it didn't stop her fear of her dress slipping off her shoulder mid-show.

She pulled a comb through her messy dark hair while trying to read the lines before her. Not for the first time she wished someone would decide to sing a 40s song—even the 30s would do—since that was where she spent most of her life. (And before you say she lived in the Underworld for seventy years, I tell you that she technically didn't even have a life back then.)

Hazel was so distracted by her lines that she brushed her ear by accident.

"Ow," she cursed. She lay the comb down and looked back at the mirror. She couldn't help but notice her neck seemed too bare... Maybe a necklace would suffice.

Hazel walked over to the shelves that held the jewelry, tripping every once in a while because of her high-heels and once nearly falling on top of Annabeth. Finally at the counter, she started to trace her fingers over all the possibilities.

"Ooh!" cried Piper behind Hazel, rushing toward the assorted jewels with her friend. "Choose..." She started to swirl her finger over the necklaces, as if deciding which one would be best. "That one," she decided, pointing at one with a blue sapphire on it. Hazel picked it up and weighed it uncertainly.

"I don't know," she told Piper. "It's kind of big and heavy."

"Nonsense," said Piper, taking it from Hazel. She stood a few feet away and held it up toward Hazel, as if to see how she'd look with it on without her actually having to wear it. "Perfect!" she cried, and rushed forward once again. She placed it back in Hazel's palm and muttered, "It'll be worth it," in her ear. Then she sauntered off, leaving a confused Hazel with the blue sapphire in her curling hand.

What in the world did that mean, it'll be worth it? Hazel had no clue, but she decided to wear the necklace anyway. She tied it behind her neck and looked at her reflection before her. She twirled once for the mirror.

"You look fine, Hazel," said Annabeth in the corner without taking her eyes off her sheet of lyrics. Hazel faced her with her hands on her hips.

"How would you know—?" she asked. Annabeth interrupted by shushing her with a very large wave of the arm.

"Memorizing, hello?" she said. Hazel sighed. She looked back into the mirror and gazed at her reflection, fingering the sapphire delicately.

It was beautiful, though Hazel wasn't sure if it was her taste—or style. Sure it was nice, but did it really go along with her? As she pondered this, a few of the smaller and lighter jewels on the shelves started to shake and shift closer to her.

_"Hazel!"_

The beads stopped moving. Hazel had decided that she would ask Frank for his opinion on the necklace. He'd know what she should do.

And with that final thought she sauntered out of the changing room.

Her boyfriend was waiting for her. "Hey," he said.

"Hey," replied Hazel quickly, wanting to get to the point. "Do you like this?" She pointed at the blue sapphire hanging from her neck. "I mean it's nice and all, but does it really suit me? Or does it go with the outfit of all? Because I saw this emerald necklace over there which is a heck lot smaller and—"

"You look great," Frank told her with a smile. Hazel couldn't stop back a sheepish grin.

"Really?"

"Stunning."

Hazel was really smiling now. "Thanks," she said. "Now,"—she punched his arm playfully—"let's go tear up that dance floor!"

* * *

**Annabeth**

Annabeth closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. This would be, what, her fourth time performing, maybe fifth? She had lost track all together.

She looked around her; the rest of her group wasn't nervous at all—except maybe Frank, who kept checking his lines nervously like she had done in the changing room. Leo was pacing the stage twirling his thumbs and index fingers around each other anxiously. Piper was adjusting the collar of Jason's shirt, much to his protest, and Percy was casually talking to Hazel about that huge sapphire necklace Piper had bullied her into wearing.

"Alright, people!" called out Leo, probably just to say something. "We can do this! We've done it before, and we can do it again!"

"Positions!" called Jimmy from the flying DJ stands. Annabeth always wondered how they flew and stayed afloat; at first she thought it was a hydro-generator, but where would the water go? She started to think it was nuclear powered, but then decided that it was probably just magic.

Frank and Piper ran up to opposite Hephaestus podiums. Leo hurried behind a curtain on the second story of the stage, and Hazel and Jason ran all the way around and out of view. Percy and Annabeth headed to the middle of the stage and sank down under the floor. The room they were in was brightly lit with a couch, a two-meter tall mirror, and a TV showing what was happening outside at that very moment.

Annabeth felt her stomach churn. Most people could live with that sensation at the beginning and end of a time-stop, but Annabeth couldn't. She looked around the room for a trash can, a paper bag—anything she could use to throw up in.

Percy patted her on the back gently. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly. Annabeth gagged and shook him off.

"Fine," she replied. "Just—ugh..." Annabeth held her stomach. She lifted her head just enough to catch sight of the TV screen, displaying flashing colours on the currently empty stage. She thought she heard Piper sing from somewhere—

_"Don't stop the pop..."_

Soft, melodious piano music started to play. Piper's voice sang again, _"Can't stop the clock..."_

"_So baby let's go..."_ Frank's voice echoed right afterwards.  
_"...I wanna celebrate—"_

_"—And I don't want the party to stop!"_ It was Piper again.

_"Hey-ay!"_ chanted Jason.  
_"Ayy-o..."_

_"Tonight we can get a little stronger!"_ sang Hazel softly, and Annabeth could see a dim light trained on her. She was sitting with one leg crossed over the other on a silver star that descended from seemingly nowhere, since the stage technically didn't have a roof. She wore a headset microphone, and that gleaming blue necklace of hers shone brilliantly as if it had its own source of light. Annabeth personally thought she looked stunning.  
_"Tonight we can go a little longer..."_

_"Can't stop the clock..."_ Piper's voice echoed over Hazel's.  
_"Tik tok, don't stop the pop..."_

The piano music drained to a stop. Annabeth realized in terror that this was her cue. She pushed Percy back, and raced to the front of the room where a door would be if she was in a normal room in a normal building.

(Normal things... Who needed them?)

There, a podium was already half rising to stage level. Using her momentum, Annabeth performed a flying leap and landed on the podium with her knees tucked to her chest. Annabeth mouthed _Wish me luck_, to Percy, who was still sitting with his bum on the floor, looking mystified as if wondering _What just happened?_

_"I—!"_ started Annabeth, standing up, turning her back to the audience. _"Know a place..."_ She felt a light shine on her back, and she leapt back and spun in the air at the same time, facing the front. She started a two-stride long cat-walk while singing in unison with Frank,_ "Where we can—"_

_"—Dance dance dance dance,"_ he finished off for her. Frank took Annabeth's hand and spun her in a circle. She caught sight of Hazel leaping off her star, and it zooming upward into the heavens. It was only later that Annabeth realized this wasn't exactly a good expression to use, seeing as they were already were in the heavens.

_"...To 'I Like It'!"_ sang Jason, not revealing himself.

_"Rude Boy,"_ added Hazel, striding forward.

_"—Dy-no-mite!"_ chanted Leo in the same position as Jason and the other two demigods in hiding.

_"And 'Bad Romance',"_ continued Piper.

The music continued to sound. Annabeth, currently playing her role as Katy Perry, spun again, and this time the floor beneath her feet shot upward like a screw, spinning along with her.

_"I know a place,"_ she started, _"where we can—"_

_"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go_!" finished off Frank below her. Annabeth swayed her hips on the spot, as if dancing to the music.

_"Get it up, babe!"_

_"I can make your bed ro-oh-oh-ck,"_ started Leo, coming out from the curtain on the second story. Unlike the rest of the current three demigods out in the open, he held an actual microphone in his hand.

_"Don't stop the pop..."_ Piper's voice drained on. Annabeth now saw her, descending from a Hephaestus podium to the far right. She was wearing her ghetto Ke$ha outfit again, with the addition of a black see-through glove cut off at the fingers on her left hand and a microphone in her right.

_"It happens all the time...!"_ sang Percy, lifting up from below to Annabeth's left. It rose another two feet, when Percy jumped off and where he landed exploded in a shower of green and blue sparks, not disturbing him the slightest amount.

_"A melody in my head,"_ he continued with Jason. Jason emerged from the side of the stage, his fist pumped in the air. Like Leo, he held an actual microphone in his hand.

_"Make me wanna say—"_ added Jason by himself.

_"—Let the time pass, we can—!"_ started Percy. (Annabeth guessed that if Hecate/Trivia hadn't put up that magical protection spell around Mount Olympus, Annabeth guessed that a few fan-girls would be returning.

_"—Let the beat rock!"_

_"Now the DJ gonna play my favorite song..._  
_Don't stop the pop!"_ This was Piper, jumping twice in the air while pumping her fist on the last three words. Her HP had finished its decent, and now she stood on the second story with Leo.

_"Don't stop, baby!"_ sang Leo.

_"Can't stop the clock..."_ continued Piper, running her gloved hand through her tangled hair. Leo beside her started—

_"So baby let's go..._  
_...I wanna celebrate—"_

_"And I don't want the party to stop!"_ finished Piper, something exploding behind her.

_"Hey-aye!_  
_Ayy-o..."_ chanted Frank.

_"Tonight we can get a little stronger!"_ started Hazel in that stunning silver dress of hers.

"_Ayy!"_ yelled all the guys.

_"Tonight we can go a little longer,"_ continued Hazel, stretching her arm out slowly and dreamily as if to grab something but in a trance.

_"Ayy!"_

_"Can't stop the clock!"_ Piper posing as Ke$ha sang.  
_"Tik tok,_  
_Don't stop the pop!"_

The music continued, though the teens of the Prophecy of Seven stopped for a few beats to wait out the next verse. The lights flashed brightly in their faces, and Annabeth twirled around again, her pink dress flowing behind her.

_"We... Can dance,"_ she started.

_"Woah oh-woah!"_ chanted Leo, while adding afterwards—  
_"Like it goes on and on and on!"_

_"Like shooting stars,"_ continued Frank, his voice echoing automatically to repeat,_ "Like shooting stars..."_

_"Dance... Until we die,"_ sang Annabeth.

_"Like it goes on and on and on!"_ continued Leo.

_"On and on, and on and on, and—"_ finished Frank.

_"Dance!"_ sang Annabeth, stomiping her foot down firmly with a few sparks behind her, pumping her fist once again.

_"Like it's the last night of your life, life—"_

_"Dance...!_  
_Like we'll be young forever!"_

_"Dance dance dance,"_ added Jason.  
_"Like there's no tomorrow._  
_There's just right now now now,_  
_'Cause we're—"_

_"Never getting old!"_ Piper finished for her boyfriend as the music drained to a stop but quickly started up again.

_"It happens all the time...!"_ started Hazel.

_"I'm always hearing your—"_ added Frank, but was cut off by Jason who sang—

_"Melody in my head!"_

_"Make me wanna say—"_ Frank finished.

_"Let the time pass,_  
_We can let the beat rock!"_

_"Cuz we gon' rock rock rock,"_ started Leo.  
_"When the music drops—"_

_"Don't stop the pop!"_ sang Piper. More things exploded.

_"Don't stop the pop..."_ she repeated.

_"Don't stop, baby..."_ Percy's voice droned on.

_"Can't stop the clock..."_ Piper again.

_"So, baby, let go..."_ started Frank.  
_"...I wanna celebrate—"_

_"And I don't want the party to stop!"_ interrupted Piper.

_"Hey-aye!_  
_Ayy-o..."_

The short chorus music started again. Annabeth's podium started to raise higher, right up to the second level. As Hazel sang her, "Tonight we can go a little longer" bit, Annabeth was performing a three foot leap to the rim of the second story. She front flipped over the railing and landed on her two feet with her back to the audience, all in one swift movement. She high-fived Leo and Piper and spun around.

_"Can't stop the clock!"_ Piper sang.  
_"Tik tok,_  
_Don't stop the pop!"_

It was only then that it occurred to Annabeth that maybe performing a flip might have not been the best choice, seeing as she was wearing a dress.

Too late.

Blushing slightly in the cheeks, Annabeth started the next verse. (Man, how long was a mash-up anyway?)

_"Let's go all... The way tonight..."_

_"I want it all, it all, it all..."_ Percy's voice sang.

_"I just want it all, I just want—"_ Leo added.

"_Everything as long as it's free,"_ interrupted Hazel.

_"...I want it all..."_

The music started to slow down, and the lights flashed out. Annabeth started to wonder if this was the end of the song and Leo had just given them extra lines, when the lights blinked back on Piper, who somehow got to the middle of the stage on a lowering platform. She sang—

_"Ain't got no money in my pocket but—"_

_"I wanna be a billionaire!"_ interrupted Percy.

_"Go DJ!"_ yelled Leo.  
_"Got my iPod—"_

_"—On the stereo!"_ started Jason.  
_"I'm gonna write you a song..."_

_"—The world bet-ter pre-pare!"_ sang Percy.

_"—Oh my gosh—"_

_"Listen to my mix—"_

_"On the radio!"_

_"Hands up..."_ sang Jason, suddenly reaching the second part of the verse.

_"Hands up!"_ echoed Hazel on a higher pitch.

_"Suddenly we all got our hands up..."_

_"Put your hands up!"_ sang Piper, pumping her fist.

_"Now put your hands up!"_ added Annabeth, lifting her palms up to face the sky and pushing them upward.

_"I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, saying—"_

_"Oh my, Gods..."_

_"...Don't stop the pop!"_

Annabeth decided that she liked this song. It wasn't like the other mash-ups she knew, that were either too fast or too slow or were really just horrible. This one was well written, had a good timing, and was fun. She was suddenly glad Leo had proposed this idea.

_"Don't stop baby..."_

_"I don't wanna stop!"_ sang Annabeth.

_"Spreading my wings,_  
_It's like I'm in flight!"_ chanted Leo.

_"Now let's fly away..."_

_"If life is just a party,"_ started Hazel.

_"—Then I don't want the party to stop!"_ finished Piper.

"_Hey-aye!_  
_Ayy-o..."_

_"Tonight I'm a let it be fire_," chanted Hazel as the chorus.

"_Ayy_!" yelled all the guys.

_"Tonight we can get a little higher..."_

_"Ayy!"_

_"Can't stop the clock,"_ started Piper.  
_"Tik tok, tik tok, tik tok, tik tok..."_ Piper's voice continued to echo.

_"Tik tok, Don't stop the pop."_

All of a sudden, that blue necklace Hazel was wearing started to glow even more than it already was. Hazel took an involuntary step back, nearly tripping on her high-heels. The sapphire she was wearing exploded into a burst of golden sparks, covering her entire body completely for less than a second, and when they fell back down, Hazel was wearing an entirely new outfit.

Black flats and ripped jeans, with a loose sweater with a tee with _Daddy's Girl_ written on it, and a picture of a scowling Hades underneath, which was pretty hilarious. The sapphire necklace was nowhere to be found. Hazel was so startled by this transformation that she would have fallen backwards on the stage if Frank—as the most loyal boyfriend to ever exist after Percy—hadn't come to her aid. The only one who didn't seem surprised by this was Piper and Apollo up at the DJ.

_"Let's go!"_

_"Faster, faster_," added Hazel, still looking a little frightened about what just happened to her necklace and how close she had just come to blowing up.

_"Don't stop—"_

_"Go faster—"_

_"Ayy-o!"_

_"I'm strong enough to—"_

_"—Go all night!"_

_"Baby—"_

_"I don't want the party to stop!"_ sang Piper.

_"Hey-aye!"_

_"Everybody!"_ sang the crowd when Percy walked right up to the edge and gestured them to do so.

_"From New York!"_ wailed Hazel. A picture of Camp Half-Blood appeared on the screens, with a bead necklace in the corner.

_"To California!"_ sang Annabeth, her headset changing her voice to sound a bit metallic. It felt a little odd, Annabeth decided. On the screens, Camp Half-Blood shifted, and Camp Jupiter appeared with its own purple SPQR banner.

_"Ayy!"_

_"Can't stop the clock..."_ Piper started, but her voice just droned off without ending.

_"No regrets,"_ sang Hazel, stepping up again and sort of sliding to the side at the same time, over the original startle of her transformation.

_"There's not a thing that I would change!"_ sang Percy.

_"Can't stop the clock..."_

_"We're unforgettable_," sang Annabeth, shaking her finger from side to side as if scolding a younger child.

_"Ayy!"_

_"We're undeniable,"_ added Annabeth.

_"So hot,"_ yelled the guys this time.

_"We're on top,"_ finished Annabeth.

_"Tik tok!"_ sang Piper again.  
_"Don't stop the pop!"_

The slow piano music from the beginning started up again.

_"Don't stop, baby..."_ started Frank slowly. The lights started to fade. Piper, Hazel, Leo, Annabeth and Jason disapeared completely.

_"Woah oh-woahh..."_

_"You won't stop, baby..."_

_"'Cause you're amazing,"_ finished Percy,_ "Just the way you are..."_

And the lights blacked out completely.

* * *

**Again, sorry about the wait, but who knew Mashups were so long?**

**Remix:  
****Don't Stop The Pop - Remix by DJ Earworm**

**Songs Involved:**  
**Ke$ha - Tik Tok**  
**Lady Antebellum - Need You Now**  
**Train - Hey, Soul Sister**  
**Katy Perry Featuring Snoop Dogg - California Gurls**  
**Usher Featuring will. - OMG**  
**B.O.B. Featuring Hayley Williams - Airplanes**  
**Eminem Featuring Rihanna - Love the Way You Lie**  
**Lady Gaga - Bad Romance**  
**Taio Cruz - Dynamite**  
**Taio Cruz Featuring Ludacris - Break Your Heart**  
**B.O.B. Featuring Bruno Mars - Nothin' On You**  
**Enrique Iglesias Featuring Pitbull - I Like It**  
**Young Money Featuring Lloyd - Bedrock**  
**Jason Derulo - In My Head**  
**Rihanna - Rude Boy**  
**Lady Gaga Featuring Beyonce - Telephone**  
**Katy Perry - Teenage Dream**  
**Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are**  
**Mike Posner - Cooler Than Me**  
**The Black Eyed Peas - Imma Be**  
**Jay-Z + Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind**  
**Usher Featuring Pitbull - DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love**  
**Travie McCoy Featuring Bruno Mars - Billionaire**  
**Eminem - Not Afraid**  
**Iyaz - Replay**


	32. Another Mystery Performer!

**Sorry I took so long. To make it up to you guys, instead of Drew doing her performance, we've got—Drumroll, please!**

**Another Mystery Performer!**

**And they're real people!**

**And I really tried to make the second Mystery Performer unrecognizable until the last possible second this time. Really. Because I know from the reviews I got that everyone knew the last performer would be Narcissus because of the fan-nymphs comment.**

**Disclaimer: If I was Rick, do you really think I would be posing as a little girl on FanFiction instead of finishing the House of Hades?**

**Disclaimer: And I don't know how these famous people act in real life. So excuses.**

* * *

**Dionysus**

Dionysus met the second special performer in the lobby of the Empire State Building. He was wearing black shades so no one could recognize him, and his signature brown hair was tucked under a cap, though Dionysus could always recognize his favourite little nephew no matter how many disguises he wore. (Note the sarcasm.)

"Sorry I'm late, dude," he told Dionysus. "The fan girls… They just all love me." He pulled off his cap.

"Yeah, we know how much you're full of yourself," said Dionysus. "And your sister? Is she here?"

"She's my half-sister," Dionysus' nephew replied. "And, yeah. She's coming. And the other guy? Is he here?"

"You do know we'll have to replace him," said Dionysus. "He isn't godly related or anything, so we just got your girlfriend."

"Oh, good, I haven't seen her for a while. Probably off doing daughter of Fortuna stuff. Wait—isn't the rap a guy's part? Never mind. Just show me where I get changed." So the wine god led him off, not being able to contain a roll of the eyes.

* * *

**Piper**

After the Prophecy of Seven mash-up, Piper and Hazel wandered off into the crowd. Since technically the dance floor had a few elevated areas, they sat on some steps of the ever-changing pattern. They were just finishing a conversation about their boyfriends, when a nymph Piper recognized from CHB rushed toward them, with her friend texting tweets on her iPhone.

"Did you hear the news?" she asked.

"What news?" Hazel asked, curious.

"The hottest son of Apollo is performing in, like, less than ten minutes!" the nymph yelled. "With special features from his half-sister and girlfriend! You know, the daughter of Fortuna?"

"What son of—?" Piper stopped mid-sentence, realizing who the nymph was talking about. "Oh, brother," Piper muttered.

"How are you not excited?" the nymph asked. "It's going to be bigger than Narcissus, that total wannabe. Even 1D! Oh my gods, so excited! Everyone on the performing list is being postponed. It's _that_ huge. Come on, Laiea, we've got to go tell more people!" The two nymphs rushed off.

"So who's performing?" asked Hazel, totally clueless.

Piper sighed. "You'll see," she said.

* * *

**Mystery Performer**

The mystery performer caught sight of his girlfriend waiting for him outside of the changing room. "Hey," he called out to her. She crossed her arms and huffed as if she was upset.

"What's wrong?" asked the mystery performer. The girl rolled her eyes.

"You know," she said. "You totally cheated on me with that girl of Victor—"

"Oh, come on," said the mystery performer. "You know that was just for show."

His ex-girlfriend cocked her head all cutely at him. Then slapped MP.

"Ow," he muttered, rubbing his sore cheek. "What was that for?"

"That's for breaking up with me," she told him. Then she grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into a kiss.

"And that?" he asked.

"For not," she said simply with a smile. "Break a leg, mystery performer," she added, and sauntered off.

**-o-O-o-**

MP adjusted his headset. He wasn't nervous at all. He had performed thousands of times, in thousands of different places—including Madison Square Garden. Mount Olympus? Puh-leeze. He had more excitement in a week than these lame gods had in their pathetic three thousand years.

As he thought of this, he looked around to make sure no one had heard him. He sighed in relief, and then started calling himself stupid for knowing that gods couldn't read minds anyway.

Could they?

Finally his half-sister showed up from the girl's change room. "Miley!" yelled MP. "Get over here!"

"So bossy," the girl apparently called Miley muttered.

"Blonde?" asked MP. "Isn't hair-dying Katy Perry's thing?"

"Oh, shut up," said Miley.

"So rude," said the Mystery Performer, mimicking his sister's voice.

"Shut up," repeated Miley.

"I'm here!" chanted the Mystery Performer's girlfriend, sauntering over in her flimsy dress. She kissed MP on both cheeks, then spun around and caught sight of Miley. "Hey!" she said. "I didn't know you'd be here!"

"Oh, look," said Miley unenthusiastically. "You're here."

"Ready for this?" asked the over-cheerful girlfriend.

"You betcha," said MP. They stood around that area for a minute or two, just talking about what was going on in their not-so-ordinary lives, when MP started to hear the starting music of his entrance song play. He spun around and gave the two girls each a backwards underhand high-five. He walked onto the platform in front of him.

_"Never say never…"_

The platform started to rise slowly. MP could hear his adoring fans somewhere in front of him. He loved the sound of adoring fans. They made him feel special.

_"Yeah—_  
_Yeah…"_

But I guess we could correct something now. His real name wasn't actually MP.

It was JB.

_"See I never thought that I could walk through fire,"_ he started, platform coming to a slow stop at the top of the third level of the stage. Fake fire exploded in front of him, right at the edge of the story.

_"I never thought that I could take the burn,"_ he continued, taking a running leap through the flames. They only tickled a little bit. But since there was no railing there, JB fell all the way to the second level, right on a trampoline that caught him and kept him alive.

_"I never had the strength to take it higher,"_ JB sang, raising a fist, a bunch of fan-girls started screaming. Well, most of them were nymphs, daughters of Aphrodite/Venus, and Aphrodite herself. He spotted this somewhat cute nymph in the audience and blew a kiss at her.

She fainted.

_"Until I reached the point of no return,"_ finished Justin with a small smile on his face.

His voice automatically echoed itself when he reached the bridge of the song.  
_"And there's just no turning back—"_

_"Back!"_

_"When your heart's under attack—"_

_"Tack!"_ echoed all the girls in the audience and a few guys.

_"Gonna give everything I have,_  
_It's my destiny!"_

Justin skipped around (okay, forget I said that—Skipping isn't manly) to the side, where one of his several backup dancers, well, danced.

_"I will never say never!" _he sang. Following the guy's moves for his line, he traveled to the other side of the stage.  
_"I will fight—!_  
_I will fight till forever!_  
_Make it right—!"_

JB walked to the middle of the stage. He pointed in the general direction in front of him.

_"Whenever you knock me down,_  
_I will not stay on the ground…"_

Justin hopped backwards onto a spring that catapulted him up onto the second level again. He pretended to strike an invisible guitar, and green sparks shot up from underneath him. He landed back down on the second story again safely.

_"Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up, up, up!_  
_And never say never…"_

All the lights except the ones pointed at the stage turned a purple and blue neon. JB's automatic echoing machines—see? Mortals aren't completely stupid—turned his voice magnetic and robotic and repeated for him—

_"Ne-Never say never…_  
_Ne-Never say never…_  
_Ne-Never say never…"_

More girls screamed and surged forward. Justin leaped down the stairs to the right three at a time to reach the first story, singing in doing so—

_"I never thought that I could feel this power!"_

"Bring us down, Dad!" yelled Justin in between his lines.

_"I never thought that I could feel this free,"_ continued Justin. Just as he had instructed, the floating stage started to descend slowly.

_"I'm strong enough to climb the highest tower!"_ Sparks shot off from beside Justin.  
_"And I'm fast enough to run across the sea."_

_"And there's just no turning back—"_ sang JB, reaching his hand out to the fan-nymphs/kids of Aphrodite/Aphrodite herself below, careful just to let them touch, not pull. That had turned out to be a very serious problem at one of his earlier concerts.

_"Back!"_

_"When your heart's under attack—"_

_"Tack!"_

_"Gonna give everything I have,_  
_'Cause this is my destiny!"_

Justin rounded off to the side where a trampoline stood bouncing up one of his backup dancers. He saw where JB was headed and quickly bounced off to let the hero get on. Justin took one jump, two jumps, and soon was flying through the air.

_"I will never say never!" _he sang.  
_"I will fight 'till forever!"_

_"Whenever you knock me down,"_ Justin continued, pointing at the crowd, which was slowly drifting away again. His trampoline suddenly lost its bounciness and Justin fell hard on his left ankle. A shower of green sparks shot from above, concealing him somewhat.

"_I will not stay on the ground,"_ sang Justin, bullying himself to get up.

_"Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up, up, up!"_ Justin skipped out of his curtain with a few green sparks remaining on his shoulder. He dusted them off.

_"And never say never…"_

The lights turned darker than ever before. "_Here we go!"_ sang a voice somewhere behind Justin.  
_"Guess who?"_

_"Selena G. and JB!"_ yelled Justin. The lights turned clear again, and it was clearly visible of Selena Gomez, Justin's girlfriend, walk out in her flimsy dress.

_"I can handle him,"_ started Selena, walking over to the very edge of the stage. A few more people screamed and rushed forward. Even though everyone might not be a Beliber, _everyone_ loved Selena Gomez.

_"Hold up, aight?_  
_I can handle him,"_ continued Selena, microphone in hand, looking side to side as if confident no one (or no monster) was going to attack her.

_"Now he's bigger than me,"_ she rapped.  
_"Taller than me,_  
_And he's older than me—"_

The stage started to descend again for Selena and for those who didn't have a chance to touch Justin's hand before.

_"—and stronger than me,_  
_And he's got a lot more dates than me._  
_But he ain't on a JB song with me!"_ Selena pumped her fist in the air.

_"I am trying a chill,_  
_They are trying to sour the thrill._  
_No pun intended, was raised by the power of Will!"_

_"Like Luke with the force, when push comes to shove,_  
_Like Kobe in the 4th, ice water with blood."_

_"I gotta be the best, and yes,_  
_We're the flyest,_  
_Like David and Goliath,_  
_I conquered the giant."_ On the screens above, a quick picture of Bacchus killing a giant with a pinecone flashed twice quickly. Whoever caught it started laughing at Percy's expression in the background. Whoever didn't had the privilege of being told the story a thousand times.

"_So now I got the world in my hand,_  
_I was born from two stars—"_ Selena held two fingers up above her head.  
_"So the moon's where I land!"_

_"I will never say never!"_ sang JB, skipping to the right side of the stage. Selena hurried to the opposite and up a small staircase, where she leaned forward and helped her boyfriend in singing—

_"I will fight till forever!_  
_Whenever you knock me down,_  
_I will not stay on the ground."_ Selena pointed downwards with her free hand, and then raised it up as if pushing something upwards four times.

_"Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up, up, up—_  
_And never say never…"_

_"I will never say never!" _sang JB.

_"I will fight," _helped Selena and the crowd.

_"I will fight till forever!"_ continued Justin.

_"Make it right—"_  
_"Whenever you knock me down,_  
_I will not stay on the ground!_

_"Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up!_  
_Pick it up, up, up—"_

_"And never say never…"_

The song ended after a few more seconds of echoing. All the girls started screaming. "That's my son!" yelled Apollo.

"Marry me!" a random nymph yelled. "I would so not be cheating on Narcissus if you did!"

"Give it up for Selena Gomez!" Justin said instead of replying to that disturbing comment. From the railing, Selena waved. More people cheered.

"I thought you guys were never getting back together," yelled some random guy in the audience once the applause died down. _Wannabe,_ Justin thought not very nicely.

"That's Taylor Swift," replied Selena. "She was actually going to show up, but then had to cancel because of some date with Joe Jonas or something.

_"OHMIGODS!"_ shrieked Aphrodite. "I thought she and Harry from One Direction were together! I've gotta go text." The Aphrodite lost herself in the crowd.

"Goddess," murmured Selena, shaking her head slightly with a grin on her face. "Just can't stop messing with them."

"You know you're going to regret that sooner or later," Justin told her. Selena shrugged.

"It's always worth it," she decided.

* * *

**Yay! JB! And Selena! And Taylor Swift! (Did some research, Taylor Swift actually did date Joe Jonas in 2008, but he broke up with her, so five years later she kissed Harry from 1D at the stroke of midnight, and now they're together.)**

**Disclaimer: I have no clue how JB and Selena Gomez broke up, but NigaHiga claims that a Victoria Secret model made out with JB in a Lion King Broadway show or something. So I'm going by that theory. I'm not into that celebrity gossip.**

**Song: **  
**Never Say Never – Justin Bieber ft. Selena Gomez. (Though the real version features JSmith instead.)**

**Who here has heard the parody of this by NigaHiga? If you haven't, go whatch it. _NOW._**

**_Really, really, really sad disclaimer:_ Sorry guys for the update wait being so long. But I'm afraid it might turn even longer. You see, have you seen my list of stories on my profile? And those aren't even half of them, plus the FanFictions I'm working on. So I'm trying to alternate, one day work on my stories, next on my FanFiction, Friday after school on this… It gets tiring. So, yes, this does mean I'm working on another FanFiction, (four of them, actually, though two are on hold), but for those I decided not to update little by little every week, but plan it out, edit things I don't like chapters in advance, then update it all at once.**

**Sorry guys, so this means that I can update when I can. Once a week is a promise. Maybe twice if I have writer's block on all the other ideas.**

**Thanks for being understandif! (Don't even try telling me that isn't a word.)**


	33. Memories

**Hey!**

**So, I read some of the reviews, and thanks for being honest about the last chapter. Sometimes I wonder if you keep saying that I'm awesome because you're good people and not because I'm actually good at writing. So a negative review is good and helpful every once in a while.**

**Continuing with JB, but not too sure if people actually liked this, so it's just going to be this chapter, since I already mentioned Miley.**

_**1Dlol: **_**They broke up already? Wow. Taylor Swift really needs to find herself a non-celebrity to marry. Because that's what I find all the celebrities do, and then they break up two weeks later because they didn't buy each other the perfect necklace or whatever. **

_**OMGDemigodishnes:**_** Fine…**

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**There. Congratulations.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO.**

* * *

**Justin Bieber**

"How's everyone doing tonight?" asked JB.

All the girls screamed.

"What was that?" asked Selena.

More girls screamed.

"Thanks for having me!" yelled Justin. "Mount Olympus… Wow. And I thought Madison Square Garden was cool."

"I was there!" screamed some agitated and hyperventilating nymph below.

"Never say never!" yelled another.

"Marry me!" yelled a last one.

"Well," said Justin slowly to her. "You see, I already have a girlfriend. Selena?"

Selena waved from the sides.

"So I think we should do something special," he continued. "What about a love song? Just you and me, SG."

Selena sighed. "Really, JB?" she asked, pronouncing his initials a little cockily.

"Yeah!" said Justin. He started to chant, "Selena! Selena! Selena! Selena!"

People in the crowd started to join in. "Selena! Selena! Selena! Selen—"

"Fine!" Selena interrupted, giving in. "Just stop. Thank you." She walked down the short stairway toward her boyfriend. "I'm here," she said.

"I believe you know this one," said Justin, taking Selena's hand. Her cheeks instantly turned a pale red. The keyboard music started. Selena closed her eyes and looked away, trying to pull her fingers away without looking too suspicious.

"_It feels like we've been out at sea," _she started, hiding a blush.

"_Whoa, _

_So back and forth that's how it seems._

_Whoa…_

_And when I wanna talk you say to me,_

_That if it's meant to be, it will be._

"_Whoa-oh-oh…"_

Some people started swaying their arms from side to side above their heads. Justin grinned, and wished someone had handed out glowing bracelets at the entrance when the party first started so many hours ago.

"_So crazy is this thing we call love,_

_And now that we've got it we just can't give up." _Selena spun around to the side away from Justin, stretching her arm out toward him.

"_I'm reaching out for you,_

_Get me out here in the water and I—!"_

"_I'm overboard," _continued Justin for her. A heart appeared on the two screens, which made Selena blush even harder.

"_And I need your love to pull me up._

_I can't swim on my own…"_

"_It's too much…" _continued Selena, walking in tune to the beat around Justin, a small smile covering her blush.

"_Feels like I'm drowning without your love,_

_So throw yourself out to me—_

_My lifesaver."_

Justin sneaked a look at the screens, thankful to find there wasn't a picture of a life saver on there—the candy or not, it would have been embarrassing, not to mention awkward.

"_Life saver, oh, life saver…"_

"_My life saver," _echoed Selena. Justin was aware of their faces on the big screens.

"_Life saver, oh, life saver…_

_Whoa…"_

Justin walked away from Selena and off to the other side of the stage, speaking to the audience now.

"_Never understood you when she'd say," _he started.

_Whoa,_

_Wanted me to meet you halfway…_

_Whoa…_

_Felt like I was doing my part,_

_You kept thinking you were coming up short._

_It's funny how things change 'cause now I see._

"_Oh whoa…"_

Selena joined him in singing, _"So crazy is this thing we call love,_

_And now that we've got it we just can't give up…"_

"_I'm reaching out for you," _sang Selena alone, who had travelled to her own side of the stage. She stretched out her arm as if to grab Justin.

"_Got me out here in the water and I—!"_

"_I'm overboard," _they chanted together, Selena several octaves higher.

"_And I need your love to pull me up._

_I can't swim on my own._

_It's too much…_

_Feel like I'm drowning without your love—"_

"_Your love…!" _Selena echoed.

"_So throw yourself out to me,_

_My life saver."_

"_Oh!" _sang Selena.

"_It's supposed to be some give and take I know," _they sang in unison.

"_But now you're leaving me deserted on my own," _added Justin.

"_But what can I do?" _Selena asked as if it weren't her fault she was so busy that they had to stage a breakup.

"'_Cause I still love you," _continued Justin.

"_Still love you, baby!" _echoed Selena.

"_And you're the only one who can save me—!"_

The keyboard music continued quietly. _"Whoa… Whoa…" _chanted Justin. Selena skipped down from her side of the stage, Justin rushing in to catch her.

"_I'm overboard!" _he sang.

"_Overboard!" _repeated Selena, skipping into the middle.

"_And I need your love to pull me up…"_

"_Pull me up!" _echoed Selena.

"_I can't swim on my own…_

_It's too much," _they sang together, then alone JB—

"_Feels like I'm drowning without your love,_

_So throw yourself out to me, _

_My lifesaver."_

The music came to a stop after a few more seconds. It ended at five last high keyboard notes, and the crowd below exploded with applause.

"Give it up for Selena!" yelled Justin. If it was possible for her to blush even harder, Selena did. She leaned forward and kissed Justin on the cheek, and with a sheepish wave to the crowd she walked over to the side as if to give her boyfriend space.

"Will you marry me?" asked the same disturbing nymph.

"Alright, questions downstairs in the lobby," replied JB. "But later. For now, I have a question for you guys."

"Yes!" yelled someone.

"Anytime!" yelled another.

"I do I do I do I do!" yelled the nymph who was so keen in marrying JB.

"What do you guys need?" asked Justin.

"Ohmigods!"

"Marry me!"

"You!"

"Me?" asked Justin, shooting a look at Selena that said, _Help. Me. _"Are you sure? 'Cause that's kind of creepy."

"YES!" yelled all the girls as one.

"Well, then I think you'll recognize this next song," said Justin. "It's all I need. Isn't that right?"

[Insert uproar here. Mostly by girls.]

The beginning music started to play, which was entirely different from the kind they had just listened to. It was catchy, understandable, and, most importantly, danceable.

"_Yeah…!" _started Selena from the sides.

"_Young Money…_

_Miley C., everybody!_

_Justin…!"_

The music drained to a quick halt, but started up again. In that time period, though, the lights managed to turn off of Selena completely, and Justin was able to walk right to the middle of the stage on the second story.

"_Show you off," _he started, voice barely audible behind the cheering of his fan-girls.

"_Tonight I wanna show you off—" _

"_Aye, aye, aye," _chanted Selena from the darkness with her boyfriend.

"_What you got," _continued Justin, pointing in front of him.

"_A billion could've never bought…" _

"_Aye, aye, aye…"_

Justin was aware of the screens to his sides turn on. He knew what was going to happen, and awaited the startled expressions on his audience's faces.

He and Dionysus had been planning this spectacular for a while, and they thought it would be funny—okay, _hilarious—_to play some of both camp's best dance moves/funnies episodes caught on camera on the big screens. He had seen the tape. He should know.

The first video was of three girls and a nymph standing in a row in front of the lake in CHB, hula-hooping and swaying their arms out in front of them.

"_We gonna party like it's 3012 tonight,_

_I wanna show you all the finer things in life," _sang Justin, the next video coming on. Three guys in purple togas doing an Egyptian dance in a library.

"_So just forget about the world, we're young tonight," _said Justin, pumping a fist in the air, closing his eyes.

"_I'm coming for ya, _

_I'm coming for ya…"_

"'_Cause all…_

…_I need…_

…_Is a Beauty and a Beat," _sang JB, a new video coming on— Some kid with black hair cannon-balling into a lake that turned out to be frozen… Right after he landed on it. A few people winced.

"_Who can make my life complete…"_

On a canoe out far from land, sat a girl and a guy holding hands, staring in each other's eyes while behind them a giant pink monster rose up and towered before them. They didn't even blink.

"_It's all…_

_About you…_

_When the music makes you move…"_

A girl stood in front of a revolving dummy, readying herself to hit it. She punched it in the face, knocking it right off. She turned around to yell something at the camera, when the dummy's arm whacked her from behind the head, knocking her into the person filming.

"_Baby, do it like you do…_

_Cause—"_

Now was the beat break. Justin rounded off to the sides, where a trampoline stood. The videos took a break and a picture of an animated stereo blasting loud music from its speakers appeared on both screens. Justin bounced up on the trampoline once…twice…

"…_Body rock," _he sang.

"_Girl, I can feel your body rock—" _

"_Aye, aye, aye…" _chanted Selena, still invisible. The videos started up again, and this time it was a picture of some blonde chick reading with earphones pressed to her ears, dancing a little with her shoulders.

"_Take a bow… _

_You on the hottest ticket now!" _

"_Aye, aye, aye!" _

Now, this next video was the one of the best ones. At first the video just showed a door, until finally the person filming coaxed out a centaur that looked suspiciously like Chiron while wearing a pink tutu. All the older members of CHB, like Annabeth, laughed at this funny memory.

"_We gonna party like it's 3012 tonight," _continued Justin, smiling a little.

Three fauns performing Gangnam Style on the side of the road with a hat in front of them filling to the brim with Roman coins appeared.

"_I wanna show you all the finer things in life._

_So just forget about the world, we're young tonight,_

_I'm coming for ya, _

_I'm coming for ya…"_

A video of a normal camp sing-a-long led by the Apollo cabin appeared. Well, it was normal until some demigod ran out from the forest and right by the flames, a hellhound hot in pursuit. The song didn't even falter, which was what made the video hilarious.

"'_Cause all…" _chanted Justin, stepping off the trampoline, his steps exploding with light.

"…_I need…_

…_Is a Beauty and a Beat,_

_Who can make my life complete…"_

This next video was a prank someone had pulled on the third Cohort. Justin could never really tell what it was, but some person who lived in the third cohort stormed out, furious, and threw a spear at the person filming, but missed and hit a fourth cohort window.

"_It's all…_

_About you…"_

It was on Mount Olympus, and Hera and Zeus were fighting again. Hermes and Hephaestus appeared to be the ones filming. Hera and Zeus' argument became so heated Zeus sent electricity flying across the room, narrowly missing Hera. Hera snapped her fingers and all the static ended, seeing as she had turned Zeus, god of gods, ruler almighty, into a peacock.

"_When the music makes you move…_

_Baby, do it like you do…"_

That was when the curtains opened with a dramatic flourish and sharks flying off the sides. A girl known as Miley Cyrus walked out, wearing her cowboy high-heeled boots and short white dress.

"_In time, ink lines, b-bitches couldn't get on my incline," _she rapped.

"_World tour, it's mine, ten little letters on a big sign."_

Two random girls that looked suspiciously like Hestia and Demeter on the screens twirled around in a circle and snapped their fingers at the camera, winking in unison.

"_Justin…_

…_Bieber… _

…_You know Imma hit 'em with the ether._

"_Buns out…_

…_Weiner, _

_But I gotta keep an eye out for Selena."_

Instead of another video flashing on the screens, Selena Gomez, who had been watching quietly in the dark in the far corner, had a spotlight trained on her with a powerful wind blowing from below her—not strong enough to throw her dress up (which would have been awkward, Justin thought) but enough to make her hair go crazy and distract her from cursing and swearing at Miley.

"_Beauty, Beauty and the Beast,_

_Beauty from the east, beautiful confessions of the priest," _continued Miley.

"_Beast, beauty from the streets, we don't get deceased,_

_Every time a beauty on the beats."_

"_Body rock!" _chanted JB, raising a hand.

"_Girl, I wanna feel your body rock…!"_

"'_Cause all…_

…_I need…_

…_Is a Beauty and a Beat!" _

During a war between the Romans and the Greeks, showed a battle of two of them who fought right up to behind a burning cabin, but once out of sight they stopped, pulled off their helmets and laughed as good friends, leaving the destruction behind them without a backwards glance.

"_Who can make my life complete…_

_It's all…_

_About you…_

_When the music makes you move…_

_Baby, do it like you do…_

_Cause—"_

After a short beat break, the song ended. Before the applause could mount to an extremely high level, Justin yelled into his microphone—

"Hey, guys." The remaining cheering came to a halt. "You may be wondering why all those videos were put up."

"Yeah!" most of the crowd yelled. JB put his hands in a timeout T. "Well, I'll tell you if you'd let me," he continued. The noise stopped.

"You see, this song has an invisible moral. It says that all I need are the two things I love most—my music and my girl. And those two things will set me for life." He pointed at his heart, emphasizing his point. He pointed up at the screens. "Those videos aren't just videos," he explained. "They're memories. Good memories. Funny, crazy, and sometimes entertaining to watch memoires.

"They also represent what is important for you," continued Justin. "Your homes, your camps, your mountains or whatever—those things are what _you _need. Not because the human or god or faun or creature or whatever needs a place to sleep and a roof over their heads _physically_—it's because you love that place."

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"You love your camp," continued Justin. "You love the place you spend every summer or if not every day of every year. You love the place where people beat you up every Friday with swords, or get dumped in the lake every morning as a routine, or get broken bones every other day just for fun. It's something you need, like I need my music. It's a part of you. A part of me. It's a part of all of us.

"Thank you. Have a good night, and keep on rocking!"

And with that final word Justin waved and walked behind the curtains without looking back. He felt Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus follow him. Miley patted him on the shoulder.

"You did good," she told him. "You did good."

* * *

_**Aw… **_

**And that, my good people, was one of the most emotional speeches I've ever written. **

**Ooh! And guess what? **

**I posted my second story on Sunday night!**

**Yay!**

**(See. I told you I had other things to work on.)**

**Songs:  
Overboard – JB ft. Jessica Jarrel (though here it's Selena Gomez)  
****Beauty and a Beat – JB ft. Nikki Minaj (though here it's Myley Cyrus)**


	34. Flying Hermes and TRATIE!

**Okay, guys. So I know most people don't like JB, and I was actually planning on doing three chapters of him, like Narcissus. One chapter per song. But you guys changed my mind with your pleading, so…**

_**tiger552:**_** But you don't want responsibilities! You want your mom to do the dishes and your dad to mow the lawn, so you can stay indoors and watch movies-and-maybe-sneak-in-a-little-Scream-in-there-even-though-I-don't-watch-TV-so-I-have-no-idea-what-it-is all day! **

_**TailsDoll13: **_**Justin Bieber isn't my favourite either, but he's okay. And his songs have been getting better recently. (Question; are you **_**ShadowandMadonna **_**with a different pen-name?)**

**_OH MY FREAKING GODS_! **

_**191 FREAKING FLIPPING TUMBLING CART-WHEELING GYMNASTIC-ROUTINING REVIEWS!**_

**Let's see if we can get two hundred! (Sorry, no competition this time, just cookies.)**

**This chapter is dedicated to **_**ShimmeringDaisyFace **_**and **_**ShadowandMadonna **_**who could possibly be now called **_**TailsDoll13. **_**Maybe. Well, it's dedicated to them because they requested a song and got it.**

* * *

**Hermes**

Oh, yeah.

The über-cool god is performing.

Insert your major rounds of cheering and yelling for the Her-man here.

Her-man? No?

Nothing?

Really?

_Hm… _

Now that he got to think about it, Hermes decided it wasn't the best nickname he could think of. He would change it.

Later.

He pulled on his black leather jacket and shot a grin at the mirror in the changing room. He looked _good. _He grabbed his acoustic guitar leaning against the wall beside him by the neck and headed out to the stage.

As he walked, Hermes ran through his lines mentally. _Faith walks on splintered glass, and the— _No no no. That didn't sound right. _Straining glass… Broken glass… Saving glass— No, wait! It _was_ broken glass!_

Grinning like crazy, Hermes stopped where he stood and stroked a victory chord on his guitar. The noise shot out and swarmed the still and quiet mountain like an awesome sort of swarming insect—ladybugs! Hermes thought. Nah, too girly, and they didn't really swarm well… Wait—! No…

Beetles!

Yeah, that could work. Beetles were pretty cool.

Hermes grinned once again. If you didn't know him, you'd think he had ADHD.

Maybe he does.

Nah. He doesn't.

Maybe.

"Ready, little bro?" yelled Apollo from the DJ. Hermes waved the guitar at him. Hermes had been the one to invent a lyre three thousand years ago, and so a few millennia later he also was the one to invent the guitar. Just change a few things—like the turtle shell body—and _voila. _A new instrument also known as an acoustic guitar came to the world. And the one Apollo held in his grip right at that moment was special because it was the original.

Hermes stepped on a part of the stage that jutted out from the rest. He walked to the middle and looked around. It was round, of course, with a rough estimated ten meter circumference. A plain and single fold-up chair sat in the middle. Lights flashed on the edge, but not too brightly. There was no railing in case Hermes fell.

And, of course, the platform flew above the heads of the crowd below without a harness or anything. Just magic.

There was an extra sheet of lyrics underneath the chair. Hermes lay the guitar down and picked it up, scanning through the lines. _So it was broken glass…_

"Ready?" asked Apollo. Hermes kicked his foot under a strap on the floor so he wouldn't fall off and yelled back, "Yeah!"

The round platform flew sideways and tucked itself neatly into the stage in a dark corner where no one could see it. Apollo unstrapped his foot and sat on the chair relaxingly. He adjusted his headset microphone and turned it on.

"Heeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllo ooooooo," he said, stretching the word out. His voice boomed throughout the area through invisible speakers, but no one actually heard him, seeing as they were all frozen in time. "Mmmmmyyyyyyyyy nnnnnnaaaaammme iiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssss Herrrrrrrrrrrrrrmeeeeeeeeeee s—"

"Hermes!" scolded Apollo.

"Hey, you might be five hundred years older than me, but that doesn't make you in charge!" yelled back Hermes a little poutily, afterwards turning the microphone back off. He leaned back in his chair, waiting impatiently, tapping his foot against the floor, drumming his fingers along the side of his chair, eyes wandering around, picking up bits and pieces of random information.

Eventually he leaned back so far he fell backwards. Hermes was thankful that he was in the darkness and no one could see him.

Just as he had regained balance and pushed his chair right-side up again, he felt a twist in his gut. Cursing quietly, he hurriedly sat down in his chair and picked up his guitar, placing his nimble fingers on their positions on the neck.

He heard a quiet, "Go!" from inside his headset—Apollo, telling him to start. He fidgeted with a guitar pick until he had a firm grip on it, breathed in deeply, and strummed the first chord.

It was quiet all of a sudden. Hermes grinned and played the second note, the third, fourth… All the way up to the ninth. The Greek god of travelers, thieves and much more closed his eyes and started,

"_Do you know what's worth fighting for?  
__When it's not worth dying for?"_

It couldn't have said any better way, thought Hermes sadly. He quickly pulled the guitar strap around his neck without skipping a beat.

"_Does it take your breath away?  
__And you feel yourself suffocating?_

"_Does the pain weigh out the pride?  
__And you look for a place to hide?"_

Hermes felt his platform start to move slowly outwards toward the lights. He shook his head and concentrated on his last two lines before the chorus.

"_Did someone break your heart inside?  
__You're in ruins."_

Hermes could hear the cheering cue. A bright white light flashed in his eyes, but he ignored it.

Man, if only George and Martha could see him now.

Oh, wait. They could.

Now, it was then that Hermes' guitar turned electric. Sure, it was still only a one-man show, and he still used a pick and his fingers or whatever, but his music sounded more electric than plain and flat. The guitar still looked the same, which was good, for if Hermes had it change blue and white with knobs and with only four strings right in the middle of the show, he'd most certainly lose his place in the song and make a fool of himself.

"_One, 21 Guns," _Hermes continued.  
"_Lay down your arms,  
__Give up the fight._

"_One, 21 Guns…  
__Throw up your arms, into the sky…  
__You and I..."_

The chord slowed, coming to an almost stop. But Hermes kept strumming, keeping the music alive. A few backup players came out wearing black on the stage—most of them holograms—to play, well, backup.

"_When you're at the end of the road," _continued Hermes with the verse.  
"_And you lost all sense of control…  
__And your thoughts have taken their toll,  
__When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul…"_

The round platform started to dip downwards, but so slowly that Hermes could barely feel it.

"_Your faith walks on broken glass…  
__And the hangover doesn't pass…  
__Nothing's ever built to last,  
__You're in ruins…"_

Hermes tapped the side of his guitar to make up for the lack of drums six times. The lights flashed brilliantly in different and vibrant colours, attracting even more attention.

"_One, 21 Guns," _Hermes continued with the chorus.  
"_Lay down your arms,  
__Give up the fight._

"_One, 21 Guns…  
__Throw up your arms, into the sky…  
__You and I..."_

The platform stopped descending and started to hover just above people's heads, so if they reached up as far as they could and stood on their tiptoes their fingertips brushed against the bottom of the platform. Hermes felt several people do this, and he spotted a little farther off one of his own sons—Connor, he remembered—give him a thumbs up. As to not lose his place in the song, Hermes just gave him a wink to acknowledge this act. Connor beamed.

"_Did you try to live on your own?  
__When you burned down the house and home?  
__Did you stand too close to the fire?  
__Like a liar looking for forgiveness,  
__From a stone…"_ Hermes sang a little higher pitched than he liked, but his microphone simply adjusted his voice whenever he felt it squeak. (But, wait. He was a god. Why didn't he just fix his voice with magic? Hm. Hermes hadn't thought of that before.)

Without using any vocals of any kind, he stood up from the chair and kept strumming his half-acoustic half-electric guitar without any backup. The guitar solo was kind of long, but Hermes liked that. He closed his eyes and let his fingers lead the way.

_F, then C, then Dm, then C, Bb, F, C…_

"_When it's time to live and let die,  
__And you can't get another try…  
__Something inside this heart has died,  
__You're in ruins…"_

The song started to slow to almost an entire end. But instead of stopping there, Hermes laid down his guitar leaning against the chair and stood up, clapping his hands over his head. Everyone following his did the same below.

"_One, 21 Guns," _Hermes sang without any music.  
"_Lay down your arms,  
__Give up the fight."_

Hermes sat back down again and picked up his guitar, strumming back along, everyone else still clapping in rhythm to the music.

"_One, 21 Guns," _sang not just Hermes, but everyone else. The platform started to rise again, but toward the stage.  
"_Throw up your, arms into the sky…_

"_One, 21 Guns.  
__Lay down your arms,  
__Give up the fight._

"_One, 21 Guns.  
__Throw up your arms, into the sky…  
_

"_You and I…"_

The song ended for real just before Hermes disappeared into his tight spot in between the levels of the stage again. He sat there for a while, guitar in hand, just thinking.

…Thinking…

…Thinking…

…_Hmm…_

Hermes decided thinking was boring. He got up, and, spinning his guitar around his wrist (which should have been impossible), walked back down to where his fans awaited him.

* * *

**Travis**

Well, after his dad had performed, Travis thought it was only fair one of his sons should go up.

Well, with a certain daughter of Demeter somewhere between the lines as well.

Okay, so they weren't an _official _couple just yet, but Travis felt it coming sometime in the near future. And after the embarrassing _Baby_ cover led by Lou Ellen, Katie had dragged her friend away to yell at her. Travis could just imagine how it went...

* * *

_**Katie**_

_Katie grabbed her friend and pulled her away from the crowd._

_"What were you thinking?!" she yelled at Lou Ellen. Her eyes started to tear, and she hugged her BFF tightly. "Oh my gods,_ thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

* * *

**Travis**

Yeah, her fit should have looked something like that.

But it wasn't until after the _real _JB and his own father sing that Travis spotted Katie again, chatting with Lou Ellen about who-knows-what.

"That was a nice performance," Katie commented when Travis got near. "Your dad sure is something."

"I'll tell him your congratulations," assured Travis, losing the promise in all the other un-kept promises he had made ever since he was old enough to know what a promise was.

Lou Ellen just stood in the background, looking as if she were watching an extremely intense movie and was just waiting to burst with excitement.

"So, uh, Katie," started Travis.

"Yes?" she asked, cocking her head a little. He brown hair swept over to one side, and her dazzling hazel eyes looked at Travis curiously.

Travis forgot what he was going to say. His mouth felt like sandpaper, and his throat was suddenly very dry. "Uh…"

"Alright, I'll do it," Katie gave in before Travis could even explain. "BUT, we don't perform on the stage. Just on one of those mounted platforms on the floor. Please?"

Travis gave in as well. "Sure," he decided.

"What song?" Lou Ellen asked, still there and intruding on the conversation.

"Uh…" Travis started, not quite sure how to put it nicely, and Lou Ellen sighed.

"I am so being shunned right now," she said as if she were insulted, and wandered off. Travis leaned forward and whispered the title of the song into Katie's ear.

"Isn't that sort of…" Her voice trailed off. "Whatever."

"I know you know the lyrics," said Travis. "It was one of the most played songs on your Z-Pod."

Katie narrowed her eyes. "How do you know this?"

Travis stopped. "Uh…" he said for the third time in that conversation.

"You went through my stuff?" she demanded, outraged.

"No!" Travis protested. "It was just sort of lying on that song on a playlist when we went to prank your cabin after the Second Titan war."

Katie rolled her eyes. "What should I expect from a boy like you," she muttered to herself. She sighed. "Let's just go."

**-o-O-o-**

They stood at the foot of the tallest mount on the floor—right in the middle of the stage. They had chosen a time where no one was performing, just so they wouldn't have whoever it was scream in fury and hack them with swords when they stole all their audience.

"Ready?" asked Travis. Katie nodded, a little nervous. They climbed the steps in unison. It was quite a tall mount, but their demigod training made it so that they didn't even break a sweat. They turned to face the outside.

The platform was round and large, big enough to have two guys breakdancing if needed. (Though probably not.) Unlike the rest of the floor, it stayed put on only one pattern—multicolour dance floor. Katie wrung her hands nervously.

"You better start soon," said Travis. Unlike when performing on the stage, they didn't get a time-stop so they could practice, or any flashy lights or effects, or even music. They only had one time to get it right, and they were lucky to even have their microphones.

(Stealing them was courtesy of Travis and Connor. Travis: Stealing. Connor: Distracting. Another successful job for the books.)

Katie nervously closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. "_Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air," _she started with her eyes still closed.

"_Ooh, ooh, ooh ooh…" _she chanted slowly. A few people at the bottom turned to look. Connor and Lou Ellen started clapping to the beat. She knew the counting until the next lines, but it sort of felt awkward, just standing there, waiting for non-existant music to roll by.

"_If I should die before I wake," _continued Katie when the clapping count had ended.  
"_It's 'cause you took my breath away,  
__Losing you is like living in a world with no air.  
__Oh…"_

"_I'm here alone, didn't wanna leave," _continued Travis.  
"_My heart won't move, it's incomplete.  
__Wish there was a way that I can make you understand…"_

"_But how…"_ asked Katie, grinning a little.

_Oh, gods, she's beautiful, _thought Travis.

"_Do you expect me?  
__To live alone with just me?  
__'Cause my world revolves around you,  
__It's so hard for me to breathe…"_

The chorus beat started. Katie walked over to the other side of Travis. _"Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air," _she sang.  
"_Can't live, can't breathe with no air…  
__It's how I feel whenever you ain't there,  
__It's no air, no air…_

"_Got me out here in the water so deep,  
__Tell me how you gonna be without me,  
__If you ain't here, I just can't breathe,  
__It's no air, no air…"_

A few more people started to join Connor and Lou Ellen in clapping to the beat. Jimmy seemed to notice their spectacular and shined a silver light on them, adding actual music to their performance so it became less awks.

"_No air, air," _Katie chanted in unison with Travis.  
"_No air, air…  
__No air, air…  
__No air, air…"_

Travis walked over to one side of the stage and started singing to their small audience.

"_I walked, I ran, I jumped, I flew,  
__Right off the ground to float to you—" _He whirled around on his heels and pointed at Katie with his free hand.  
"_There's no gravity to hold me down for real…"_

With that crazy grin still plastered on her face, Katie added—

"_But somehow I'm still alive inside,  
__You took my breath, but I survived,  
__I don't know how, but I don't even care."_

Travis grabbed Katie's fingers carefully. "_So how do you expect me_ _to live alone with just me…?" _they sang in unison. Katie extended her arm upward, entwining her slender fingers with Travis'.  
"_'Cause my world revolves around you,  
__It's so hard for me to breathe…"_

"_OHMIGODS_!" yelled Aphrodite, suddenly appearing. She fumbled three quick shots of Travis and Katie from the bottom of the mount, and started texting the pictures to all of her friends and probably updating them on every Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Tumblr and Instagram profile she had. "This is HUGE," she kept muttering to herself, finally coming to her senses and starting to take a video. (Well, way to make it embarrasing, thought Travis.)

"_No air, air," _they continued in duet. Katie's cheeks burned from all the attention.  
"_No air, air…  
__No air, air…  
__No air, air…  
__No more,  
__It's no air, no air…_

"_No air, air…  
__No air, air…  
__No air, air…  
__No air, air…"_

Travis spun Katie around closer to him, and then swung her back out, extending their arms to full length.

"_Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air," _they sang as one.  
"_Can't live, can't breathe with no air…  
__It's how I feel whenever you ain't there…  
__It's no air, no air…_

"_Got me out here in the water so deep,  
__Tell me how you gonna be without me,  
__If you ain't here, I just can't breathe,  
__It's no air, no air…"_

* * *

**Tratie!**

**Not my favourite chapter, but okay, I guess. The songs are sort of short, but my next chapter is half-done already, so expect a soon update.**

**Songs:  
****21 Guns – Green Day  
****No Air – Jordin Sparks ft. Chris Brown**

**(PS, and the Z in Z-Pod stands for Zeus! It's an iPod, but for mythological folk!)**

**Next performance— Drew! Again!**


	35. Drew

**Warning: Drew is in this chapter.**

**DON'T LEAVE YET!**

**I made this chapter just thinking of you guys. Honestly. In fact, I even wrote these song lyrics myself.**

_**Ohh…**_

**Well, the music and rhythm I sort of stole, but I made up the lyrics. I had to.**

**So you guys better like it. I spent like, two hours last night trying to make it rhyme, so what you're about to read is pretty new. And if you catch some lyrics from a different song, well, then sorry. Unintended. **

**And, yeah, some of it'll be dirty. But nothing too major. And, yes, I know the chorus is the same as a certain song announced in the Author's Note at the end. I'm not **_**that **_**creative.**

**Nah. I just wanted an excuse to put whoever features to be there.**

_**OMGDemigodishnes**_**: Patience. Your time will come. (I already have it planned out—I just wanted to get rid of Drew in this chapter, seeing as I said I would do it chapters and chapters ago.)**

* * *

**Drew**

As Drew walked down toward the stage during the Mount Olympus Party, people stopped to stare at her flawlessness. She tousled her dark hair over her shoulder and walked proudly, letting nothing distract her from her way.

"Hey, babe," started this one Roman, but Drew told him to shut up without missing a beat.

He shut up so fast he bit himself.

Drew had eventually decided to do it—perform once again. But no Stolls this time. Never again would she work with those selfless and filthy dogs again.

Ever.

Piper bumped into someone. "Watch where you're going, b—" Her voice stopped when she realized who she had been talking to was her mother.

"Drew, hon," Aphrodite said, not looking up from her phone. "Respect your elders. It shows you care, even if you don't." She patted her daughter friendly on the shoulder and walked off, leaving Drew to fume.

Her mother, _her mother, _had just done that? She praised and acknowledged Piper, that snake, but just said something to Drew every other year, and as simple and stupid as _Respect your elders? _

Drew's fists clenched. Piper was no one. She wasn't even pretty. But she got the epic quest, the Aphrodite cabin counsellor job _and_ the cute Jason, while all Drew got were a few friends who bothered stick around with her and the BAG academy.

She'd show them.

**-o-O-o-**

Drew chose the least revolting outfit in the changing room (they were _that _bad) and tried it on. It took at least seven times to get a good outfit, but as soon as she found one she liked, Drew would realize it wouldn't go with her song's theme and change once more.

Finally she exited from the changing room wearing jean mini-shorts with short black high-heeled leather boots and a white shirt that was a little tummy-revealing. She had swept up her dark hair into a ponytail, leaving two long strands on either side of her face, and wore giant blue loop earrings. She had gone for that bad-girl look, and apparently it had worked, seeing Jimmy's jaw-dropped expression when she reached the stage.

Apollo wasn't as fazed. "Got your lines?" he asked. Drew rolled her eyes.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" she asked sourly. Apollo put on a mock-insulted expression and placed a hand over his heart.

"That hurt my soul," he said.

"Like you ever had one," Drew muttered, looking away and placing her perfectly tanned fingers on her hips, annoyed.

"Okay, _that _was just rude," said Apollo. He looked back at his controls. "Meanie," Drew heard him say.

Drew bit back a few vulgar responses she had ready to say, like, "Meanie? That's the best you can do?" But this wasn't one of those stupid Apollo campers; this wasthe actual stupid Apollo god. She had to be careful of what she said.

"We found a backup singer for you," said Apollo when he realized Drew wasn't ready to reply.

"Please tell me it's not another stupid demigod," said Drew, eyeing Jimmy (who was still staring impolitely) carefully.

"Nope," said Apollo. "It's another stupid _satyr."_

Drew groaned mentally.

**-o-O-o-**

Drew wasn't nervous. She couldn't afford to be. She inspected her perfectly manicured nails just to pass the time. Of course, they were flawless.

Drew flicked the on switch on the microphone. Then off. On, off, on, off… She was _so _bored, and there was nothing to do. They had already practised four times, and Drew was 100% sure she had all the moves and lyrics memorized. The stage had turned flat with a short stairway at the back and a multicolour dance floor. (The stage always changed its settings when a new performer came on.)

Then the satyr just _had_ to get into the picture. "Hey, Drew," he said.

"Shut it, goat boy," said Drew without as much as an upwards glance.

The satyr placed a hand over his heart mockingly like Apollo had done. "Fine, Drew," he said. "Be that way. I thought we had something." Then stormed off.

Drew simply rolled her eyes. "You never had anything on me," she muttered, going back to her nails.

"Ready, Drew?" asked Apollo from the DJ stage above.

"Sure," Drew called back. She turned her microphone back on and pranced up the stairway behind her. She passed a few of her nymph backup dancers, giggling and gossiping in groups. They stopped as Drew walked by them and sort of looked down silently until she passed.

At the top of the stairway she spun around to face the front. Two electronically controlled doors sealed her off, hiding her from view until it was time for the show.

Nothing happened.

Drew wanted to tap her foot impatiently. _I'm waiting! _she wished to call out. _I don't like to wait!_

Finally she felt a familiar tugging sensation in her gut, and she sighed in relief. She heard Dionysus announce her, calling her an _Evil Charmspeaker, _which didn't really bother her that much. She was who she was.

Drew twirled the microphone around her fingers as the beginning music played. _Dash dash, dash dash, loooong, short short short short short—_

It continued like this for three more seconds, which doesn't seem like a lot, but felt like all of eternity for Drew. She raised the microphone.

"_Oh yeah, they tell me I'm a cruel girl…"_ started Drew to the beat, the doors sliding back into the walls to reveal her. The bright light shining on her face didn't even bother her that much.

"_A mean and sassy b*tch work…" _she continued, taking tentative steps down the stairway. The six backup nymphs—three to the left, three to the right—did whatever they needed to do. The satyr hadn't shown up yet.

"_I guess you could call me a billionaire," _Drew sang, placing a hand right over her heart, pointing to herself, as if she had no care in the world.  
"_So, boys, you beware."_

All the lights turned green, only one remaining on Drew, the rest training themselves on their new addition to the team—Grover.

"_Look at her go, on the dance floor…" _he started, pointing at Drew from the other side of the stage.  
"_She's amazing, on the dance floor…" _Drew swung her hips from side to side like she was told to do by Apollo.

"_When she moves, girl, I want more…" _Grover the satyr continued.  
"_Keep it going, girl, like I got an encore…  
__You got me sayin'—"_

"_I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl," _sang Drew, walking forward just as another stairway appeared. (See? This is why they needed a flat stage—more effects pop up from the floor all the time!)

"_I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl…"_

Drew stopped at the top of the newly formed staircase, it turning translucent and showing off bright and startling colours, as well as sparks shooting off from the sides.

"_I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl…"_

Drew pushed herself to sit down on the staircase, legs dangling off on side. She kept singing—

"_I'm a little bad girl,  
__A little bad girl…" _

The stairway sunk back into the ground, allowing Drew to have access once more to the solid stage floor. She raised the microphone back to her lips to sing—

"_Oh yeah, they tell me I'm a cruel girl…  
__A mean and sassy b*tch work…" _

She walked over to the right side of the stage, speaking to the audience. "_I guess you could call me a want-it-all," _she sang.  
"_A perfect but a little nasty plastic doll."_

She couldn't help but notice some people sneak sideways glances at their friends and buddies while nodding in agreement. Drew let herself grin cruelly, not just for the song's effect, but because of the fact that her lyrics were 100% accurate. You might not find that a good thing, but Drew loved it.

"_I make a few mistakes every once in a while,"_ Drew sang, swinging her hips from the left to the right.  
"_Being called names like cruel and vile…" _She made quotation marks with her fingers on her free hand on her adjectives.

"_But that's just the feisty way that I act," _she continued, inserting a little charmspeak into her voice just so the audience remembered who was the boss and to see how they'd react.

"_Being the center of attention, I always make an impact."_

Drew sauntered to the left, wherever she strode a step materializing to catch her. She stopped at five to sing the second part of the verse. She swung her hip first to the left, then the right.

"_Dancin' from the left to the right,  
__Doin' this all night," _she chanted, and on each direction sparks shot off from that side. (Lime green and hot pink, if you were wondering.)

"_Loving your love,  
_'_Cause I'm a child of the dove." _

Grover's part again. (Why did Apollo _have _to choose a satyr? Drew wondered to herself. Well, a satyr _would_ be better than another clueless demigod, but really? He managed to choose Grover? She wished that she had simply sung the chorus herself.)

Drew had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she almost missed her lines.

Almost.

"_I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl," _she chanted, so much charmspeak inserted into her melodious voice that the eyes of her audience were starting to glaze over.

"_I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl…  
__I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl…  
__I'm a little bad girl,  
__A little bad girl…"_

Now the rap. Drew had written it herself. She figured that a rap was the same thing as a poem, which she loved to write in her free time, but with dirtier and more violent words. And it had worked; nine rap couplets, all in less than an hour.

The lights turned darker and all of them trained themselves on Drew. The catchy song rhythm turned into a low, steady beat. Drew closed her eyes to calm her jittery nerves (okay, since when did she have jittery nerves?) and started.

"_I call you names,  
__I tell you lies,  
__I damn you when  
__You like my guy._

"_I post mean Tweets,  
__And break your dreams,  
__I love it when  
__I make you scream._

"_Child of love,  
__Very prayerful—" _Here Drew clasped her hands together in front of her as if praying.  
"_Charmspeak: me,  
__So just be careful."_

Drew rounded off to the other side of the stage.

"_But I'm really, really  
__Not so viper,  
__Wanna see dog?  
__Just look at Piper."_

Okay, Drew knew _that _was really mean, but, hey, she was a mean girl. She's gotta live up to her reputation.

"_We all have vices,  
__Don't deny,  
__Mine are just a  
__Tad more high. _

"_Chillin' with my ladies,  
__Just being cruel,  
__Doin' what we do—  
__Super-cool. _

"_I'm perfect, girl,  
__Don't wanna boast.  
__But just keep your distance,  
_'_Cause I'm coast to coast. _

"_Spoiled, b*tch,  
__As well as flawless.  
__Sassy, brat,  
__Always lawless._

"_Beautiful, pretty,  
__And cute works too.  
__But don't let that fool you,  
__From the real T. Drew!"_

The lights turned back on, Grover singing again, but maybe a little nervously. Drew grinned evilly again. At least her song lyrics had made an impact on _somebody. _

"_I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl…  
__I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl…  
__I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl…  
__I'm a little bad girl,  
__A little bad girl…_

"_I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl…  
__I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl…  
__I'm a little bad girl, little bad girl…  
__I'm a little bad girl—_

"_A little bad girl."_

* * *

**Can't you totally see Grover sing that with Drew? I know I can. **

**Beat and chorus taken from:  
****Little Bad Girl – David Guetta**

**(Well, all except the rap and second part of second verse.)**

**And if you didn't like my lyrics, sorry! I was in a rush, okay?**

**And because I forgot to do it earlier: I don't own Drew or Grover or Apollo or a tiny amount of the song lyrics. **

**Oh, and—**

**_199 REVIEWS! THAT'S, LIKE, 1 NUMBER AWAY FROM 200_!**

***insert happy dance here***


	36. Demigod Gurls

**Disclaimer: Don't own this.**

**Another quick thing to add: **_**TailsDoll13**_**-previously-known-as-**_**ShadowandMadonna **_**brought some attention to my eye; Grover in the last performance. **

**I think it's because I watched **_**The Lightning Thief**_** movie, and Grover is dancing to Lady Gaga, which totally ruins his reputation and the way everyone looks at him… I mean, for me, of course. Not saying that everyone thinks of Grover as a dancing goat or anything, of course…**

**Okay, that just turned awkward. **

_**OMGDemigodishness**_**: Your time has come! Oh, and good luck on your audition! (I don't like swearing either. Or Drew. But someone like Drew ought to swear **_**a lot.)**_

**Chappie dedicated to OMGDemigodishness for her idea, though I chose the song.**

* * *

**Reyna**

Reyna looked around the chaotic changing room. Piper was brushing her hair calmly, oblivious to what was happening around her; Annabeth was trying on high-heels that made her stumble everywhere, knocking everything over; Thalia and Rachel were having a pretty heated argument that looked as if it were about to turn ugly anytime soon on who-knows-what; and Hazel was so bored she was making rubies and gems levitate in the air while lying flat on her back on a sitting bench. The changing room was a mess.

Reyna cleared her throat.

Nothing happened.

Reyna said a little louder, "Um, guys?"

Still nothing.

"_HEY_!"

Everything stopped. Thalia's stopped yelling, Piper's comb froze brushing, Annabeth ceased stumbling, and Hazel's jewels hung in the air, frozen.

Reyna bowed her head slightly. "Thank you," she said to her audience.

One of Hazel's gems fell to the ground.

"As you all know, the boys have performed their song," continued Reyna.

"Yeah, Other Direction," said Annabeth.

"Oh my gods, it was so cute!" squealed Piper. When Annabeth, Thalia, Hazel and Rachel started to stare at her oddly, she asked, "What? Eight months of living in a cabin full of giggling-gaggling gossiping girly-girls can wear off a little on someone."

"Giggling-gaggling gossiping girly-girls," repeated Thalia, trying to say it without stumbling. "Giggling-gossiping girly-gag—"

"Giggling-gaggling gossiping girly-girls," said Rachel easily. "Not that hard."

"Says you," said Annabeth. She started to herself, "Giggling, gossiping, girly gagging girls. Girly, giggling, gossiping, gaggling girls. Giggling, gaggling, girly, gaggling—No, I already said gaggling. Giggling, girly—"

"Anyways—" started Reyna, but was cut off.

"Gossiping girly-girls giggle and gaggle," said Thalia.

"No, the giggling goes before the gossiping," said Annabeth. She scrunched up her nose. "At least, I'm pretty sure."

"Of course not," said Hazel, speaking up. "The gossiping goes first."

"Giggling goes first," corrected Rachel.

"Girls go last," said Thalia.

"_Ra_-cist," sang Piper.

"I'm a girl," said Thalia.

"We all are," said Hazel.

"Of course we all are," said Rachel. "At least, we think so…"

"Aw, Rachel!" yelled Hazel, sitting up and pressing her hands to her ears.

"Scarred for life," decided Piper.

"Did you really have to speak up?" asked Annabeth.

"_HEY!" _yelled Reyna once again. Everyone froze for the second time.

"Sorry," Annabeth apologized weakly. "Were we getting side-tracked?"

"A little," Reyna said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, going back onto our performance conversation,—"

"I thought we finished that topic a long time ago," complained Thalia.

"—the goddesses have also performed, if you'd remember," Reyna finished without skipping a beat.

"Cim-stuff," said Rachel. "'Course we remember."

Hazel just kept glaring at her. "I will never look at you the same way ever again," she decided.

"And now it's our turn," continued Reyna. Annabeth nodded.

"We know this," she complained, leaning against the wall while trying to take off her left high-heel.

"Well, yeah, of course you do," said Hazel, leaning back down again, her jewels swirling in the air. "What Reyna's doing is telling whichever PJO and HoO fan reading this chapter what exactly is happening."

"Oh," said Annabeth. "That makes much more se_—aaaaaaaaaahhhh!"_

Her high-heels had finally tripped her.

"But, Hazel, isn't that fourth-wall breaking?" asked Piper, brushing her hair again.

"So?" asked Hazel. "The Stoll brothers did it earlier, why can't I?"

"True," said Thalia and Rachel together.

"Girls!" scolded Reyna.

"Yes?" asked Thalia sweetly.

Reyna face-palmed. "This is going to take a while," she decided.

**-o-O-o-**

_Three…_

_Two… _

_One—_

It was then that the time stop ended, and Reyna felt a twist in her lower gut. She wondered how Annabeth was doing. She knew that she hated these things, even though she had performed a bajillion times.

The music started, the lights flashing everywhere. But they finally rested on one little girl waltzing down the right stairway.

"_Don't call me,  
__Leave me alone," _started Piper. (Reyna could see her on a TV in her small underground room.) Piper stopped halfway and continued—

"_Not gonna answer my phone—  
_'_Cause I don't,  
__No I won't, see you…"_

Another light shined on the opposite side of the stage, where a second set of stairs led down on the other side of the second level. On them, Rachel descended, a headset microphone somehow curled up in her fiery red hair.

"_I'm out to have a good time," _she sang, stepping down one by one, sneaking a few glances every now and then at Piper.  
"_To get you off of my mind…" _She stopped in the middle of the stairway like Piper had done.  
"'_Cause I don't,  
__And I won't need you…"_

"_Hoo, hoo,"_ the girls chanted together.

"_Send out a 911," _chanted Thalia, stepping out from a curtain on the first floor.

"_Hoo, hoo,"_ Piper and Rachel chanted again.

"_We're gonna have some fun," _waltzed Annabeth into the picture.

"_Hoo, hoo…" _

With a shock, Reyna realized that this was her cue. Her platform rose to stage level while she added, "_Hey, boy, you know you better run…!"_

All the lights flashed on, and they were no longer in sudden darkness with only a dim light to lead them. Piper and Rachel jumped down from their staircases.

"'_Cause it's a girl's night!  
__It's alright, without you…!" _all five of them chanted.

"_I'm gonna—" _

"_Stay out!  
__And play out, without you…!" _they continued.

"_You better hold tight,  
__This girl's night, is without you…!" _chanted Hazel, cartwheeling in from the sides. (She didn't actually cartwheel; she sort of skipped, or strutted, because cartwheeling would be sort of hard while singing, and, uh, yeah… Besides, did Hazel even know how to cartwheel?)

"_Hoo, hoo!"_

"_Let's go,  
__G.N.O.," _chanted Hazel and Piper in unison, pumping their fists in the air, and then swinging their arms down to their opposite hip.

"_Hoo, hoo!"_

"_Let's go,  
__G.N.O.," _Reyna and Annabeth added, doing the same thing.

"_Hoo, hoo!"_

"_Let's go,  
__G.N.O.,  
__Let's go…!" _continued Thalia and Rachel.

"_It's a girl's night," _finished Annabeth. Some sparks exploded behind the bunch of six. Rachel, Thalia and Annabeth crossed over to the left, Piper, Hazel and Reyna going to the right. Reyna and Annabeth climbed up the first four steps of their separate stairways in unison.

"_I'll dance with somebody new," _sang Rachel.  
"_Won't have to think about you—  
__And who knows?  
__What lettin go, will lead to…!"_

"_Hoo, hoo!"_

"_You'll hear from everyone," _sang Hazel.

"_Hoo, hoo!"_

"_You'll get the 411—" _continued Thalia.

"_Hoo, hoo!"_

"_Hey, boy, you knew this day would come…!" _finished Piper.

Reyna and Annabeth jumped over the railing that separated the stairs from the second story in unison, sparks flying from behind them. A beach ball fell from the sky and landed in front of Thalia, who then kicked it into the crowd.

"'_Cause it's a girl's night,  
__It's alright, without you…!" _all of them sang.

"_I'm gonna stay out,  
__And play out, without you," _added Hazel alone.

"_Hoo, hoo!"_

"_Let's go,  
__G.N.O.," _chanted Thalia and Rachel.

"_Hoo, hoo!" _

"_Let's go,  
__G.N.O.," _continued Annabeth and Reyna.

"_Hoo, hoo!"_

"_Let's go,  
__G.N.O.,  
__Let's go…!" _added Hazel and Piper.

The music slowed to a beat, and all the lights except for one suddenly went dark. That sole light was the one trained on Reyna. She leaned forward on the second story railing.

"_Hey, boy," _she sang.  
"_Don't you wish you could have been a good boy?  
__Try to find another girl like me, boy—?"_

Reyna jumped down from the second story (it wasn't _that _high up) right next to Hazel. The light switched from her to Hazel, Reyna rolling away back out of sight.

"_Feel me when I tell ya,"_added Hazel, continuing her walk toward the right part of the stage.  
"_I am fine,  
__And it's time for me to draw the line—"_

Hazel walked past Rachel, who climbed up the stairs slowly and backwards to face the crowd.

"_Hey, boy,  
__Don't you wish you could have been a good boy?  
__Try to find another girl like me, boy—?"_

The light traveled back down the stairs, where Piper finished—

"_Feel me when I tell ya  
__I am fine,  
__And it's time for me to draw the line…"_

All the lights exploded back on again.

"'_Cause it's a girl's night,  
__It's alright, without you," _they all sang.

"_I'm gonna stay out,  
__And play out, without you…!" _chanted Hazel.

"_You better hold tight,  
__This girl's night, is without you…!" _added Thalia.

"_Hoo, hoo!"_

"_Let's go,  
__G.N.O.," _started Annabeth and Reyna, pumping their fists in the air and then swinging their arm down to their opposite hip.

"_Hoo, hoo!" _

"_Let's go,  
__G.N.O.,"_ chanted Thalia and Rachel, copying their friends.

"_Hoo, hoo!"_

"_Let's go,  
__G.N.O.,  
__Let's go…!" _continued Piper and Hazel.

"_It's a girl's night," _finished Thalia.

**-o-O-o-**

"Ohmigods that was so much fun!" squealed Rachel on their way back to the changing rooms. "I haven't ever quite been on stage for a _song_, and, oh, this was so much fun!"

"I forgot," said Annabeth blandly. "You've only been on stage one other time, in Gods and Goddess."

"Well, I guess after fifty other times it doesn't become that fun," sniffed Rachel, sitting down on a bench to pull off her shoe.

"Oh, relax," said Reyna. "I'm sure the fiftieth time is just as fun as the first, right?"

"Whatever," Thalia said. "I go up there twice, and I am good for the rest of the day. Or evening. Or night. Or whatever."

"Well, I'm gonna go up there again," continued Rachel. "_Hm…_ Is the only person to ever do a solo Reyna?"

"I think so," wheezed Hazel, lying flat on her back, trying to pry a shoe off her foot.

"Oh," said Rachel. "Well, then, I'll just be the sec—_aaaahhhhhh!"_

"Sorry!" called out Hazel, whose shoe had finally come off and sprang into the air, pitching itself right on top of Rachel, knocking her back.

"But really?" Thalia asked, helping the oracle up. "Your supreme and ultimate weapon is a blue plastic hairbrush, but you are easily defeated by a shoe."

"Sorry!" Hazel called out again.

"Hey, I'm just human," said Rachel, rubbing the back of her neck sorely. "All that demigod _let's go kill the monsters! _thing you half-bloods do make me sick."

"Sick," echoed Piper, nodding her head sadly.

"And prophecies are the worst," added Annabeth. "I took part in two of them, and I am scarred for life."

"Hey!" snapped Rachel. "Oracle over here! Entire job, to create prophecies! Hello?! No respect," she added to herself. "No resp—_aaaahhhh!"_

Everyone winced as Hazel's second shoe flew up and knocked on Rachel right on the head for the second time and knocking her down again.

"Sorry!" Hazel called out. Rachel crawled to her elbows and gave Hazel a _Hey, no problem! _look that really meant, _I. Hate. You._

But despite this, everything was just a tad bit funny.

* * *

**Song:  
****G.N.O. – Miley Cyrus.**

**SORRY, BOYS, DON'T KILL ME! IT ISN'T MILEY CYRUS' FAULT THAT SHE WROTE THE BEST 'GIRL'S NIGHT OUT' SONG THAT CAN RELATE TO ALL SIX DEMIGOD GURLS! Or, the best one I could find...**

**Now, the winner of the unofficial 200 Reviewer competition is…**

_**Goddess of Jasper!**_

**COOKIES!**

**(::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)**

**And every review gets one! (Yes, there are 207.)**


	37. Boyfriends and Oracles Perform

**Hey, guys! Sorry the update took so long—I planned on finishing this chapter on Thursday, but my math teacher was evil and dropped a giant project bomb for us to finish for Friday—the next day. So guess what kept me up until ten at night? (And what sucked was that I worked my butt off or nothing—it was a snow day on Friday.) **

**And I was also working on a few other chapters for this story! Like, two of them! **

**Disclaimer: *checks in mirror* Yup. I'm pretty sure I'm just a twelve-year-old Canadian girl, not a famous author from Texas who likes to troll. **

_**SilSha: **_**You are the closest person to get the riddle answer! For that—**

**(::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) **

**And to help—**

**\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ **

_**Guest: **_**What does that mean? Good? Bad? Sheesh, I'm not a virtual mind-reader!**

**Chapter dedicated to **_**GhostOfAWolf **_**and **_**HPvsHG, **_**who wanted this song so freaking bad. Oh, and **_**OMGDemigodishness, **_**I'm sorry I couldn't do the song you wanted, but it didn't fit. You know, the lyrics weren't Rachel, or her story. But she's still singing!**

* * *

**Percy**

"Hey, Jason," Percy called out.

"Hey, Perce," said Jason. "What's up?"

"The girls just left to do some sort of 'girl's only' performance," replied Percy, inserting little quotation marks in the air. He leaned forward and half-whispered to Jason, "Can you believe their nerve?"

"You know we did the same thing," he replied.

"Yeah," said Percy, standing up taller and puffing out his chest. "Other Direction. Could never forget."

"Man, that was epic," said Jason.

"Yeah," said Percy.

"Yeah," said Jason.

"Hm…" Percy said.

"Yeah," repeated Jason.

Insert awkward silence here.

"Man, we really have nothing to do without the girls," said Jason.

"The sad truth."

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

Another awkward silence.

"Let's go?" asked Percy.

"Let's go," confirmed Jason, reaching the same conclusion.

* * *

**Annabeth**

"So I was just standing there, and like, girl, you better not do that. And you know what that stupid Roman did? She picked up her javelin and tossed it right at me. And I was all like, oh not you _did-_n't," rambled Piper. "So I picked up my dagger and went all rabid on her, slashing and stabbing until she was nothing more than a big pile of guts and gore—"

"Thank you, Piper," said Annabeth, feeling slightly sick to the stomach. "But you don't need to go into _all_ the details."

"Okay," said Piper simply. "So she was rendered unconscious. I kicked her twice on the nose, just to prove my point, and stomped off. And _that's _what happens when a stupid Roman I don't know flirts with my guy." Piper puffed out her chest proudly. "So? Anyone try to steal Percy?"

"Well, Rachel did, once," said Annabeth hesitantly.

"_Oooh…"_ said Piper.

"But that was before she was oracle and we became friends," finished Annabeth quickly. "She's over him now."

"Or is she…?" asked Piper mysteriously.

"You really spend too much time in the Aphrodite cabin," said Annabeth. She placed a hand on Piper's shoulder. "Don't lose yourself."

"Alright, Master, I'll sincerely try—" started Piper, but a loud blast of noise stopped her mid-sentence. Turns out they had been standing right next to one of the speakers, but them being invisible, they hadn't realized it until then.

"Gods, could they make that music any louder?!" Piper had to yell to be heard by Annabeth, pressing the heels of her hands to her ears to block out the noise.

"I seriously doubt it!" Annabeth yelled back. "C'mon, let's go!"

"What?!" yelled Piper.

"I SAID, LET'S GO!"

"GOOD IDEA! WHERE TO?!"

"SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN RIGHT NEXT TO THE INVISIBLE SPEAKERS!"

"GOT IT!"

The two girls started to make their way to wherever they were planning on going, when whoever was on the stage started singing. They both stopped in their tracks, hands still pressed to their ears.

"I KNOW THAT VOICE!" yelled Annabeth.

"ME TOO!" yelled Piper.

"THEN WHO—"

They would have both face-palmed, but that would have issued in removing their hands from their ears, which would have issued automatic deafness.

"Seaweed Brain…" Annabeth moaned.

"Jason…" Piper moaned, not having a good nickname for her boyfriend.

The two girls shared looks and burst out into excited giggles.

"He's so cute," said Annabeth, referring to Percy.

"I know," said Piper, referring to Jason.

"_And there's nothing I can do,  
__I just gravitate towards you," _continued Jason and Percy up on the stage.

"_You're pulling on me like the moon," _added Jason.  
"_I just wanna get you sideways—"_

_"__I'd say anything I can,  
__To get me more than just a dance," _continued Percy.

"_I really hope I'm not too bland,  
__And I'm begging on my knees to make you understand," _finished Jason, changing the original lyrics a little.

"_You get me higher…!"_

"Ohmigods!" squealed Piper. "They're talking about us!"

"Who else?" Annabeth asked.

"That Roman girl and Rach—"

"SHUT UP!" yelled Annabeth. "You're ruining it!"

"_What would you do if I told you that I la, la, la, la, loved you?" _sang Jason, performing the second half of the chorus.

"Great, you made me miss Percy's part," grumbled Annabeth.

"You're making me miss Jason's part!" yelled Piper.

"_You're like a song,  
__A beautiful symphony to my eyes," _started Percy.

"_So take me on," _added Jason.  
"_I wanna sing along all through the night…"_

"_I'm not like the other boys,  
_'_Cause with you I've got no choice," _they added together.

"_You make me wanna lose my voice,  
__I just wanna get you sideways—"_

"_No, I'm not the type to lie,  
__But could I dance with you tonight?  
__I could be your shining knight,  
__And you could be my favourite lullaby!"_

"_You get me higher…!"_

"_What would you do if I told you that I la, la, la, la, loved you?" _chanted Percy. A white light shone down from the DJ and onto Piper and Annabeth, then squinting through the brightness. Annabeth cautiously took a hand off of her ears and waved at Percy.

"_What would you do if I told you that I la, la, la, la, loved you?" _echoed Jason. Beside Annabeth, Piper blushed.

"'_Cause you know I ne-ne-never lie!"_

The music softened.

"_Like a symphony, tonight…!"_

"_Like a symphony…"_

"_Like a symphony…"_

"_Like a symphony, tonight…!"_

"_What would you do if I told you that I la, la, la, la, loved you?  
__Do if I said it tonight?"_

"_What would you do if I told you that I la, la, la, la, loved you?  
__Cause you know I la, la, la, la, la, oooh…!"_

"_What would you do if I told you that I la, la, la, la, loved you?  
__Do if I said it tonight?"_

"_What would you do if I told you that I la, la, la, la, loved you?  
_'_Cause you know I ne-ne-never lie…!"_

"_Oooh!" _finished Percy. Annabeth so wanted to walk up onto that stage and give him the biggest hug accompanied with a kiss that it actually itched her heart.

"We have awesome boyfriends," Piper decided.

"Tell me about it," said Annabeth.

* * *

**Percy**

"That was fun," he decided.

"Awesome," added Jason.

"Incredible."

"Epic."

"Epicer than epic."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Hm…"

"Yeah…"

[Insert awkward silence here.]

"Wanna go get a soda?"

"Sure."

* * *

**Annabeth (again)**

"_OHMIGODS, PERCY, I LOVE YOU!" _yelled Annabeth, leaping into Percy's arms and kissing every inch of his face, causing him to spill his coke. She finally stopped long enough to ruffle up his black hair and give him a proper kiss. Piper had gone off with Jason—probably to do the same thing with him.

"I know, Annabeth," replied Percy.

"_I KNOW YOU DO!" _yelled Annabeth. _"IT JUST FEELS RIGHT TO YELL IT OUT LOUD WITH EVERYONE WATCHING!"_

Percy probably would have replied, but it was then, my good people, that it happened.

* * *

**Rachel**

Rachel wrung her hands, jittery. She had excited butterflies doing backflips in her stomach, and she couldn't seem to stand still. Her red hair was gathered back in a ponytail, with a loose pink tank top with skinny jeans and black boots (no heels) to accompany. Her microphone was starting to malfunction from jumping up and down so much.

"Isittime, isittime, isittime, isittime, isittime, isittime, isittime, isittime, isittime?" she kept asking Jimmy irritatingly from the DJ.

"Yes," he said after five minutes of this. "It is—_finally—_time. Now leave me alone."

"Okay!" sang Rachel cheerfully and bounded around in circles until the DJ reached the stage again, letting her off on the ground. Rachel skipped backstage, where she checked in the hallway mirror nervously one last time, then the lyrics.

"It would be a lot easier if someone were helping me," she muttered quietly. She put the lyric sheet down and recited the song in her head, humming the tune to herself.

She caught sight of a basket full of bonbons on a chair in the hallway. Curious, she picked one up. It was a godly candy, reading; _Super High, makes you wanna burst!_

But of course, Rachel saw the Super High logo printed on the side and unwrapped the candy, popping it in her mouth without a second thought. "Mmm," she said, turning it over in her mouth with her tongue. "This is really good—"

Rachel's eyes dilated and shrunk in a half a second. Her hands became so jittery she dropped her microphone. She started vibrating on the spot.

"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh—" she started say in different tones.

When Apollo walked by the backstage hallway, he found his oracle standing upside down with her legs on a swivel chair, spinning around in circles while chanting song lyrics.

"Hey, boss," Rachel called, still spinning with a red face. "Jimmysaidthatwewouldbestarti ngsoonandwhyaren'twestartingandwhyareyoustari ngatmelikethatandwowI'mdizzybutIthinkI'vegotthelyricsdownwiththemov esanddoyoulikepancakes? I do."

Rachel fell on her back in exhaustion, eyes unfocused and staring at the ceiling blindly.

Apollo helped his oracle up. "I think you're letting this song thing get to your head," he said as Rachel started to spin in circles. "That, or you got high on sugar."

"WEEEEEEE!" yelled Rachel, cut off as she ran face-first into the wall and fell back again.

"Or you're just high," said Apollo. He turned toward the open door that led to the stage, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Jimmy! You might want to keep that time-stop running a few more minutes." He looked at Rachel again, who still lay flat on her back as dazed as a butterfly. His eyes moved to the twenty Super High wrappers on the floor next to his basket of candy. "Actually," Apollo corrected himself. "Maybe two hours will do."

**-o-O-o-**

"Okay, so I was wrong," said Apollo. "But by, what, three hours?"

"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh," Rachel jittered from her chair. She was restrained with leather straps at the wrists and the ankles, but she didn't seem to notice. Her eyes shrunk and dilated every five seconds, which didn't seem too healthy for a human.

"I don't think she's ready yet," said Jimmy.

"But she did pretty well with digesting the candy," observed Apollo. "Usually whenever a mortal has even one of those things they stay insane for the rest of their lives and end up in asylums."

"Maybe being the oracle protected her," said Jimmy.

"_I AM SO HYPER!"_ yelled Rachel at the top of her lungs, pulling up from her leather straps unsuccessfully. She didn't seem to notice that she couldn't.

"Definitely not ready," said Jimmy.

"Definitely," confirmed Apollo.

"_AAAAHHHHHHH!" _yelled Rachel for the sixth time.

**-o-O-o-**

By the time Rachel was sane again, nearly eight hours of the time-stop had passed.

"Go fish," said Apollo lazily to Jimmy. Jimmy sighed and started to reach the seventh card of their thirtieth game, when Rachel started screaming from under her gag. (Yeah. It had eventually come to that.)

"Shut up!" snapped Apollo, turning to face Rachel to yell at the oracle for the fiftieth time. But he noticed that she wasn't vibrating anymore, nor were her pupils going loco. Apollo nudged Jimmy.

"Hey, I think it wore off," he said.

Rachel said something else from underneath her gag—probably a ton of cuss words that would have to be censored out anyway. Jimmy and Apollo untied her leather restrains and removed the gag from her mouth. Rachel stood up and rubbed her sore wrists, spitting on the ground.

"What was _that?" _she demanded.

"Super High," said Apollo. "Even for gods it's extremely powerful."

"Let me guess," said Rachel. "The inventor is Hermes?"

Apollo nodded.

"But why did you have to imprison me?" Rachel wanted to know.

"You don't remember?" asked Jimmy. "You were bouncing off the walls—literally. It took us two hours of the time-stop to find you in the crowd when you decided to run off on us before we came up with the leather-strap idea!"

"Oh," said Rachel quietly. "Well, um, sorry, I guess…"

"Well, no point in crying over spilt milk," said Apollo. He checked his watch that Rachel swore wasn't there a second ago. "The time-stop doesn't end for another half hour," he said. "Wanna practise your routine again? Or—"

"I wanna try some of that candy," interrupted Jimmy, rubbing his hands together.

"NO!" yelled Apollo and Rachel in unison.

"Kidding," said Jimmy.

**-o-O-o-**

Well, apparently Jimmy was _not _kidding, so after another two hours of time-stop, Jimmy was finally safely secured in the Chair of Shame, and they could finally start.

The soft guitar music started to play. _"Oh ooh oh oh oh oh oh…" _chanted Rachel softly from behind her black curtain from the second story of the stage, which was, like, only three steps taller than the first. A white fog rolled out from behind Rachel, spilling out above the floor and rolling down the three steps, across the first level and down the side, falling above people's heads but dissolving before they could hit. A deep purple and dark blue light sequence hit the stage.

"_I stare at my reflection in the mirror…" _started Rachel, still hidden.  
"'_Why am I doing this to myself?'  
_"_Losing my mind on a tiny error,  
__I nearly left the real me on the shelf._

_No, no, no, no, no...!" _

Rachel came out from behind her curtain.

"_Don't lose who you are… In the blur of the stars!  
__Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing,  
__It's okay not to be okay…_

"_Sometimes it's hard… To follow your heart…  
__Tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising,  
__Just be true to who you are!"_

(Only exception; you're a demigod and a stupid monster is trying to feed on your guts for dinner, but it wants to make sure you're a demigod and asks if you are. That is the only time you are allowed to say, "Sorry, sir, but you've got the wrong person," and run off. )

"_Brushing my hair, do I look perfect?  
__I forgot what to do to fit the mold, yeah…_

"_The more I try the less it's working, yeah…!  
__'Cause everything inside me screams—  
__No, no, no, no, no...!" _

Rachel took three steps down to the first level of the stage. She reached out in front of her as if to grab something.

"_Don't lose who you are… In the blur of the stars!  
__Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing,  
__It's okay not to be okay…"_

Some of the audience started clapping to the rhythm. Rachel smiled and continued—

"_Sometimes it's hard… To follow your heart…  
__Tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising,  
__Just be true to who you are!"_

"_Yes, no's,  
__Egos,  
__Fake shows,  
__Like, whoa!_

"_Just go, and leave me alone!  
_

"_Real talk,  
__Real life,  
__Good love,  
__Goodnight—  
__With a smile, that's my home!_

"_That's my home…  
__No..."_

The music kept playing, and the audience kept clapping. Rachel clapped with them until it was her turn to sing again.

"_No, no, no, no, no…!_

"_Don't lose who you are… In the blur of the stars!  
__Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing,  
__It's okay not to be okay…_

"_Sometimes it's hard… To follow your heart…  
__Tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising,  
__Just be true to who you are!"_

The acoustic guitar came back on, strumming simple chords. The lights faded back, leaving only one light on to silhouette Rachel. She pulled the elastic from her ponytail out and ran a hand through her released red hair.

"_Yeah…"_

**-o-O-o-**

"That was awesome, girl!" said Apollo, giving Rachel a fist-bump when she returned to the backstage. Rachel sighed.

"It was epic," she decided.

"_Mmmmphh!" _Jimmy tried to say through his gag.

"It came to that?" asked Rachel, eyeing him.

Apollo nodded.

"It came to that," he confirmed.

* * *

**Songs:  
****Lala – Cab  
****Who You Are – Jessie J**

**(And in case you didn't pay attention, go back and read the **_**Lala**_** lyrics. I changed a few of them, just because, even though they weren't **_**serious, **_**I'm a clean person. And go back and read the Who You Are lyrics; they are powerful words.)**


	38. The WHAT shake?

_**SUPER SERIOUS MUST-READ ANNOUNCEMENT! SO NOBODY SKIP THIS! (And yes, I am talking to you.)**_

**I am getting tired of this story.**

_**NO! WAIT! DON'T GO TO YOUR BACK-POCKET MACHINE RIFFLES JUST YET! I'M NOT **_**DDDDDOOOOOONNNNNNNNNE**_**!**_

**But let's just get serious for a moment. I've been working on this freaking story for four months, five if you include the one of my absence. That's, like, half of a year, virtually six months if you add one more. And I have other fanfictions to work on—such as the sequel to this story, one that is so far OVER 100 Microsoft pages and counting, and even one that has nothing to do with PJO and HoO. And have you **_**seen **_**my profile? With the super long list of stories I still have to finish? **

**But before you start raising your hands for adopting the story, I shall tell you, THIS STORY IS NOT BEING DISCONTINUED! Because I, Bookworm One-Seven-Five-Six, is not a quitter! **

**(Most of the time.)**

**Because I, Bookworm, have declared that there will be an award ceremony!**

**(True.)**

**Because I, Bookworm, have yet to write the last Tratie scene!**

**(Also tr—WAIT! Forget I said that last part.)**

**But there **_**are **_**going to be less chapters. Just to, you know, shorten things up. This is nothing personal, guys. I'm as sad as you all are.**

**Enough ranting.**

**This chapter wasn't actually part of the original story plan. But I hope it's good anyway. It's just that when I heard the song, I was like **_**HOLY COW if I don't do this I'll never forgive myself.**_

**On with it! And may the gods be ever in your favour! (Haha. I decided to do it again.)**

* * *

**Apollo**

Apollo was admiring the scene below him, watching and taking notes on how random everyone was being, while behind him Jimmy was surfing the Web, every once in a while pausing to change the song. It was only after ten minutes of this that Jimmy started smiling to himself. "Oh my gods…" he kept saying, staring at his Mac screen. Apollo let himself wonder what he was watching for a few moments, but then wheeled his chair over.

"What?" he asked.

"Alright, watch this," said Jimmy, who had just finished watching a video on YouTube and was now clicking on another one from the Related Videos. A guy wearing a Darth Vader mask standing in front of an auditorium with people talking behind him appeared on the screen. He seemed to be…

What was he doing?

"Wait for it…" said Jimmy, and just when the odd music couldn't seem to get more awful, the bass dropped, and everyone in the auditorium started dancing to the dubstep. Some people were wearing bathing suits, others holding water guns and spraying over the heads of their neighbours, and others were just being crazy.

The video ended.

"That was…" started Apollo, at loss of words.

"Proof that the world is getting stupider by the minute," finished Jimmy. Apollo wheeled his chair back to the DJ.

"My exact thoughts," he said, looking down once again.

"Hey, why don't we do the same thing?" asked Jimmy, closing his Mac and hitting a button on the DJ that changed the song playing. "We could ask for volunteers to shoot the first scene, where the guy is doing...whatever he's doing, while we get everyone else to stand around, silently talking to one another in a semi-circle around whoever volunteers. Then we could film the second shot with everyone dancing around."

"Hmm…" Apollo thought about it. "But wouldn't that make the world go a _lot_ dumber, seeing that the gods would do it, and—?" He stopped himself, actually thinking it over. "Of course I'm doing it!" he decided.

"Great," said Jimmy. He rubbed his hands together eagerly. "After this song?"

"After this song," confirmed Apollo.

ONE SONG LATER

"Ready for this?" asked Apollo.

"Got the camera, film recorder, and music right here," said Jimmy.

"Alright," said Apollo. "Let's do this!" He flicked a switch and the music died to a stop. "Hey, everyone!" Apollo called out. He waited for the conversation volume to lessen. "Alright, so—how many of you awesome people know what is the _Harlem Shake?"_

A few knowledgeable people cheered. Most just stood around, looking confused.

"Well, it's practically Gangnam Style's baby," said Apollo. "And tonight—right now—we're going to try it out. Jimmy here is going to film the whole thing." Beside him, Jimmy waved the camera. "No guarantees that this is going to stay off the WWW, so if you don't wanna participate, you best leave while you can. Now, out of the people who _do _know what the Harlem Shake, who wants to be our special commencer?"

No hands rose or voices spoke up.

"No one?" asked Apollo.

No one volunteered.

"Then I'll just have to choose," said Apollo ominously. He pretended to ponder over it. "Hm… What about you, Mr. Jackson?"

Percy didn't come forth.

"I know you're here somewhere," continued Apollo. No one pointed at Percy yelling, _He's over there!_

"Fine," said Apollo. "If Jackson isn't going to gut himself to Harlem shake, then I guess I'm just going to have to put on some Rebecca Black—"

Immediately the sea of people near the left hand corner of the crowd parted to reveal Percy Jackson, hundreds of fingers pointing to him. Beside him, Jimmy winced.

"Betrayed by his own kind," he muttered.

"This isn't a punishment, my boy," said Apollo, hearing him. "It's a privilege!"

A blond girl walked up to Percy and placed a hand on his shoulder, muttering a few words into his ear. Probably something like, _I know you can do it, Percy. And if you don't, I'm blaming my deafness-caused-by-Rebecca-Black on you. _

Finally the boy managed to walk up front.

"Perfect, perfect," said Apollo. "Now, just stand on that platform—yes, that one and— A little more to the right… No no! Left—left! There, there… Now, my boy, you know what you have to do?"

"Think so," yelled Percy.

"Excellent," said Apollo. "This is going to be taken in two separate shots, so everyone gather around Percy but leave a two meter semi-circle around him. Pretend to talk to each other without actually speaking. Ready…? Jimmy, hit the dubstep!"

Jimmy rolled the camera while he pushed the button that started the music. Percy flailed his arms uselessly.

"No, no, no," interrupted Apollo. "Cut, cut! Thank you. Percy, my boy, you've gotta do this!" Apollo pushed back and made a motion with his arms and—to put it lightly—hips.

But, of course, Percy was one of those guys who, when given this kind of music in a school cafeteria, stood up on the tables and did the exact same thing. So when Jimmy filmed for the second time, Percy did what he was told.

"Hmm…" Apollo thought. "Jimmy, do we have any masks?"

"We have PSY, Angry Birds, Mario…" Jimmy started to list.

"Get me a Luigi," ordered Apollo. Jimmy went through a trunk near the back of the DJ and pulled out a Luigi cap that was attached to a mask. He handed it to Apollo, who tossed it down to Percy. It fell for a few seconds, then landed a couple hundred yards away.

"Close enough," said Apollo. "Now put it on!" He waited for Percy to go run and get it, then return. Then Percy reluctantly placed it on his head. It looked hilarious. Someone wolf-whistled.

"From the top!" yelled Apollo.

The music and camera ran, and Percy repeated what he had done the second time but with his Luigi disguise on.

"Now for the second shot, we need everyone to surge forward and to surround Percy, then just act like idiots," said Apollo. "Can everyone do that?"

"Actually…" started some Athena's kid, who probably didn't even know what _idiot _meant.

"Crazy, then," Apollo corrected himself. "Jimmy, you got the effects running?"

"And ready for action," said a voice that was most certainly not Jimmy. Apollo turned.

"Stolls?" he asked. "Why and how are you up here?"

"Our job," replied the taller one—Travis.

"Jimmy let us up," replied the shorter one—Connor.

"Whenever you need crazy and absolute chaos…" started Travis.

"…We guarantee it well," finished Connor. He handed Apollo a small business card. On it was printed the two faces of the Stoll brothers, with their 'logo', _U Need Crazy?_ and their catchphrase beneath it, _Whenever you need chaos, we guarantee it well. _And apparently, all you had to do to contact them was to yell into an Iris Message saying, "SHOW ME THE IMMORTAL AND DEFFINATELY AWESOMER THAN ME STOLL BROTHERS!" And then bow with your head touching the floor ten times while throwing nacho chips in the air.

Apollo tossed the card behind him. It floated down, where it exploded on contact with the floor. There were a few screams.

"We'll save you the bowing, just 'cause we're already here," said Travis. But then he leaned closer to the god and added in a whisper, "Just don't tell anyone about this 'cause then they'll think they can get pandemonium for free as well." He turned toward his brother. "Got the equipment?"

"Yup," replied Connor, holding the duffel black up.

"Alright, you guys might wanna stand back," said Travis. He took out a glass vial holding some neon green liquid from the duffel bag, wincing. "Man, that's hot," he added to himself. He gently placed it on the ground to get a pair of thongs. He then placed the little vial on the DJ counter.

"What is that?" asked Jimmy. A few people below knew an exit cue when they heard one, and made a mad dash for the elevators.

"A concoction we brewed up ourselves," announced Connor. "You did know that children of Hermes are the pest potion-makers at any camp—right?"

Apollo was suddenly wishing he could leave as well.

"So… Is it dangerous?" asked Jimmy, reffering to the liquid inside the vial.

"Only if you swallow it," replied Travis, searching for something else in his duffel bag. "Then, right before you die, you turn all wrinkly, shrivel up into dust, and feel this agonising pain right here." He pointed at his crotch.

"So you gonna eject a tiny little miniscule drop and pour it on the controls or something?" asked Apollo.

"Yep," said Travis. He stopped getting whatever he was reaching for to pick up the thongs again and to swish the liquid inside the vial a little bit for fun. "'Cause if I did the entire thing, this place would probably blow up—"

The vial slipped through the thongs and crashed open on the DJ. The green liquid slipped down through the controls, smoking, and issuing a crackling sound.

"Or we could just do that instead," said Travis, looking a bit worried.

"Should I be scared?" asked Jimmy.

"Oh, yeah, you should be," said Connor. "Quickly get down on your stomach and cover your head with your arms, so—"

"Run music and camera," Travis ordered. He cautiously turned the camera on and hit the button that continued the music.

"And... ACTION!" yelled Connor.

To put it in light terms, things exploded. Somehow, monkeys appeared. The floor went crazy, elevating and descending at over 100km/h. People hurled. _Many_ people—including gods—suffered from both major and minor injuries. One Roman camper was put in a coma. In the end, they had a thirty second video of pure destruction that they played on the two big screens while everyone laughed or puked some more. And when the smart people returned from their trip to the Empire State Building, they believed that an atom bomb had gone off.

In some ways more than one, one had.

* * *

**Song: Harlem Shake!**

**(PS: I have a question— How on earth can I read the Son of Sobek if I already bought the ebook version of The Serpent's Shadow?)**


	39. Just Two Cool Dudes

**Disclaimah – I don't own this.**

**I never actually got to do this the last chapter because of the ranting, so I'll do it now.**

_**SomewhatCrazyOwl: **_**You just made my freaking day. **

_**Artemisfowl18: **_**I KNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!**

_**Guest: **_**i knooow.**

_**Mythomagic101: **_**Thanks for being patient.**

_**Iamtheawesomelikepotatoes: **_**OHMIGODS I LOVE YOUR NAME! And thanks. I try. *Smiles***

_**McCountryGirl: **_**Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Like, you died of awesomeness, or died of humiliation and pity for me? **

**AND THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO WAITED ME OUT! **

**Chappie dedicated to **_**OMGDemigodishness**_** for requesting the song in the chapter.**

* * *

**Leo**

Leo knew what he had to do. It was like this perfect plan about to be set into motion, 'cause it was. The idea had sprung into mind when he and Piper had a friend-to-friend talk.

"_I don't know why all my siblings freak when Justin Beiber shows up," she said. "Don't they know that he and 1D are going to pass on and we'll completely forget about them anyway?"_

"_Like the Jonas Brothers," Leo commented._

"_Or Hannah Montana," Piper added._

"_And all those other Disney movies and TV shows, like Camp Rock."_

"_And High School Musical."_

"_Man, I remember that movie," Leo said. "My fourth foster sister was so obsessed with it that she forced me to watch the entire triology with her, like, a million times each."_

"_Ooh… That's harsh." Piper winced._

"_And the songs still sometimes get stuck in my head," Leo whined._

"_I remember one of my favourite song would be any one that Vanessa H. sang in," Piper said._

"_I didn't really watch the movies," Leo admitted. "I just sort of tinkered with tools while pretending to watch it so the girl wouldn't tattle."_

"_Would that have been so bad?" Piper asked._

"_Oh, yeah," said Leo. "You have no idea how aggressive her father was. He would, like, chuck me out of the window if I didn't agree on which sport's team would win the championships or something."_

"_Okay, that was an exaggeration," Piper said._

_Leo just shrugged. "Well, I don't really watch sports, so I didn't really care and would just agree with the guy to make him happy, but I once witnessed him trash someone's lawnmower just because the guy said that Michigan was a better state."_

_Piper thought for a moment. "Ohio?" she asked, referring to where Leo had lived._

"_Yup," he replied. _

"_Those guys hate each other." She glanced around, and caught sight of Jason. "Well, I guess I'll see you later, Leo," she finished, and sauntered off toward her boyfriend._

That had left Leo thinking about the conversation. No, not the Ohio hating Michigan thing, but the High School Musical theme. He didn't know why, but there were these lines that kept coming back to him now that he had remembered the memory from so long ago.

_No one can stop us now, _

_We're the ones who make the rules…!_

He realized that that wasn't part of a movie, but a few lyrics of one of the songs.

_Which one was that…?_

That was when he had his idea.

**-o-O-o-**

Nico was reluctant.

Better put, unmoved.

"Come on, Nico!" persuaded Leo. "You've only gotten up on that stage once! You've gotta go up there with me!"

"No," said Nico blankly.

"This wasn't an I'll-Just-Pick-You-Just-Because kind of thing," explained Leo. "There is a very good reason!"

"No," repeated Nico.

"They love us!" yelled Leo. "Don't you know you have your own freaking fan club!?"

Nico sighed. "The Nico-Worshippers," he said. "They always somehow manage to find me."

"That's because you are the hottest PJO guy who isn't already taken!" explained Leo. "I'm the hottest HoO guy who isn't taken! Which makes me wonder, why don't I have a girlfriend again…?

"Anyway, you've gotta do this, man! You're the only one who'd make sense to be up there with!"

"Oh, joy," said Nico glumly.

**-o-O-o-**

Leo was just awesome like that. He could convince the unofficial king of the ghosts to be on his team when he needed to. For the minutes leading up to the performance, Leo wondered if he should write TEAM LEO on his shirt and arms like he had done when he needed to nab the celestial bronze from Narcissus and his nymphs, and then force Nico to write TEAM NICO on himself.

In the end, they just ended up elongating the time stop a little longer to print out a bunch of T-shirts with that already written on them. (Nico's was black and had little moving skulls dancing around. Leo's was orange and had a printed fire burning around the arms.) They made about fifty copies total to throw into the crowd. Nico hated it. Leo thought it was one of the best ideas he had ever come up with.

So there they stood, with their backs to the audience, Nico sighing, Leo feeling exhilarated.

_Three, two, one…_

The music started to play. The quality was so great it felt as if the drums and whatever other combination of instruments were actually there.

Leo mentally went through his routine in, like, five seconds. (He had, like, twenty of them once the music started.) There was a lot of jumping over people's heads involved, so it was essential he didn't slip and land on somebody. (Especially if that somebody was a god or goddess. If that was the case, Leo wouldn't survive to say 'Ow'.)

He was so busy wringing his hands in excitement that he almost missed his cue.

"_Take it back to the place where you know it all began…" _he started.  
"_We could be anything we wanna be," _added Nico.

At that point, ALL the girls in the building screamed, either for Nico or for Leo. Some of them are even you. Yes, you, reading this right now. You know you screamed. The question is for whom.

"_We can tell by the noise that the boys are back again…" _continued Leo.  
"_Together making history…!"_

Nico's voice sounded full of expression when sounded through the speakers, but Leo had it programmed to do that. He had no idea how much he could trust Nico into sounding like he wasn't forced into this.

"_It's time to show how—" _they both started in unison, but Nico cut off at the last second to let Leo finish—  
"_To be a super hero…" _

Leo spread his arms out wide as if he were a little kid playing airplane. He skidded to the right a little, and the floor—programmed to do this—slipped sideways along with him, so that a tiny innocent action like so sent him a long way. It shot him up a ramp, right into the invisible screen on the far right on the second story of a four story stage.

Leo barely remembered to chant along with Nico as he shot up,_ "Just like a showdown—"_

"_Will Smith and Bobby DeNiro," _chanted Nico on the first floor.

"_We're the best, no doubt—"_

"_Doin' it like we use to do," _added Leo from the right. The floor brought him down the ramp a little again, stopping him right in the middle of the second floor and the stage.

"_This is our town—"_

"_And I'm telling you—"_

"_OOOHHH...!"_

Three sharp explosions—one to the left, one to the right, and one right in the middle. It temporarily blinded everyone, which was just the cover Leo and Nico needed. Their TEAM LEO and NICO shirts were magically replaced with identical white shirts with a black leather jacket on top. Lo-riding jeans and black sneakers, and, of course, the black tinted sunglasses. _Everyone _loved the black, tinted sunglasses.

And so, in an instant, Nico and Leo were transformed from single, loner wannabes, to smoking-hot, everyone-wants-them, monster-butt-kicking, Percy-freaking-Jackson popular, a-bunch-of-more-awesome-stuff, larger-than-life-the-universe-and-everything-else dudes. (Proven to be 42.) A few single girls fainted.

Yes, you. And I was only describing them. You should have _seen _how adorable they were.

And, okay, I admit it, I fainted too. The rest of this performance was something I took from a security tape that just happened to be filming it. (_Tch_. Like there are security cameras on Mount Olympus.)

Leo and Nico met up at the middle and slapped their palms together in a super-cool, only-us-bros-know-it handshake.

"_The boys are back, hey!  
__The boys are back.  
__The boys are back, gonna do it again,  
__Gonna wake up the neighborhood…_

"_The boys are back, yeah,  
__The boys are back.  
__Climbing up the walls, any time we want,  
__The word is out the boys are back!"_

Leo back-flipped ('cause back-flipping is better than front-flipping) back onto his ramp, and the floor sent him shooting back onto the second level once more. But this time, the floor was more trampoline than solid, and so, he shot up another five feet into the air.

The boy wonder Leo landed smoothly on the third story, seeing there were no railings on the sides for this purpose. He whirled around and pointed at the crowd.

"_Keep coming with the right,  
__Win the fight, every single time."_

"_Undefeated here in our house, yeah," _added Nico.

Leo shot a quick glance at him. It was obvious he didn't like this one bit. _I'm really glad I added that happy translator in his mike, _thought Leo.

"_We can rock, we can shock,  
__Any time we like."_

"_And tonight we're goin' all out!" _chanted Nico. Leo made his way to the middle of the third story stage as the lights dimmed to a purple.

"_It's time to show how—"_

"_To be a super hero," _added Leo.

"_Just like a showdown—"_

"_Keep the pedal to the metal, go!" _chanted Nico.

"_We're the best, no doubt—"_

('Cause we are, duh, thought Leo. Like a _boss._)

"_This is our town—"_

"_And I'm telling you—"_

"_OOOHHH...!"_

When the streamers started flying out toward the crowd, a few other things went along with it. Such as the TEAM LEO and TEAM NICO T-shirts. The girls who hadn't already fainted started scrambling for one. A few fist-fights broke out.

"_Gonna wake up the neighborhood…"_

It was now that a few girls who _had _fainted woke up again and started to realize where they were. There was this one in particular that I caught sight of on the film, who had stood up on one of those high-elevated floors with a shirt that said TEAM NICO written on it, and she kicked down any other people who tried to steal it away from her. Sort of like in a video game.

"_Here to change the world…!" _started Leo.  
"_To solve the mystery, fight the battle—"_

"_Save the girl…!"_

"_No one can stop us now," _they started in unison.  
"_We're the ones that make the rules…_

"_OOOHHH...!"_

Here came the beat break. A few guys ditched their screaming girlfriends and started to play basketball in the corner and tried to pretend that what was happening wasn't snapping their soul in two.

"_The boys are back,  
__Ohhh, yeah,  
__The boys are back, hey,  
__The boys are back, the boys are back,  
__Gonna do it again,  
__Gonna wake up the neighborhood…"_

Nico skidded to the third story of the stage. (And when I say 'skidded', I mean catapulted. It's a wonder he didn't snap his neck in half.)

"_The boys are back, yeah,  
__The boys are back.  
__Climbing up the walls, any time we want—"_

"_No need to worry cause—!"_

Leo walked up to the middle second story stage while Nico swung down from the third. There they stood back-to-back with their arms crossed.

"_The boys are back," _they finished. Steam shot up in front of them, concealing them from view. The light went dark, and he next thing everyone knew the light were normal again, the set was gone, and a Black Eyed Peas song started playing.

Both boys were gone.

Like magic.

* * *

**Bookworm**

"Dudes, that was awesome!" Bookworm told them once backstage. She still felt light-headed from her trip to Snooze-ville, but there was no way she was going to show that to these two fellows.

"You got all of that, right?" confirmed Leo.

"Please tell me you didn't," pleaded Nico.

"Yep. Recorded on camera, film, paper, and eye," she lied. (Well, she did have it all recorded on all of those listed except the latter.)

"So…" she continued casually. "How many shirts did you throw out there? Just out of curiosity, you know…"

"We made fifty, but there are two left over," Leo replied. "One Nico and one Leo." He folded/raised his arms off to the side and yelled, _"Fire-power!"_

"_OHMIGODS_ _can I have them both_ _PLEASE!?" _Bookworm pleaded.

"Sure," said Leo, and he tossed Bookworm the shirts. Bookworm threw the LEO one on top of her original shirt.

"Score!" she yelled, pumping her fists.

* * *

**Song:  
****Boys Are Back – High School Musical **

**And now…**

**Who did you scream for in the first song? Was it Nico? Was it Leo? Was it both, or was it neither? Go to my poll and vote now!**

**I'm serious! Vote now!**


	40. Non-Singing Trio

**Disclaimer: This isn't mine. *insert sad face here***

**Chapter dedicated to **_**Goddess of Jasper **_**and **_**LyingTruth123 **_**and **_**SilSha **_**for their songs! Yay! (My favourite story is the last one, though. But you have to read the first two to get there, so ha!)**

* * *

**Piper**

Piper was chatting to Hazel.

"So, you know that game Wed, Bed, or Dead?" asked Piper.

"Um, do I _want_ to?" replied Hazel.

"Hey, chill. It goes like this; I give you three guys, and you've gotta choose which one you'd rather marry, sleep with, or kill," explained Piper. "It's like a variation of Who-Do-You-Like-Best."

"Oh. Okay," said Hazel. "Hit me."

Piper thought for a moment. "Frank, Percy, Leo," she decided.

Hazel opened her mouth to reply, when a loud song blasted through the speakers beside them.

"Again?" asked Piper. "Why don't I notice these things!?"

She realized with a pang that she knew the song playing. The drums… Where had she heard those drums before? She and her father loved to sing to it whenever they had been driving to go somewhere. They'd hook up the phone to the car sound system, and sing along with Taylor Swift. She knew some other girls did that with their fathers, so doing that with her daddy just made her feel more normal than she was. (Dad: Celebrity. Mom: Greek goddess. See what she means?)

_I'm walking fast through the traffic lights,  
__Busy streets and busy lives,  
__And all we know… Is touch and go…  
__We are alone with our changing minds,  
__We fall in love 'til it hurts or bleeds or fades in time…_

Piper realized that Hazel was waiting for her reaction to something. "Yeah?" she asked.

"I just told you my answer," said Hazel, crossing her arms.

"I didn't hear," protested Piper. "Tell me again."

"No way," said Hazel. "I told you my reply, and it's your own fault you weren't paying attention. Now it's my turn."

Piper wanted to tell her that now wasn't the time, but she realized that it was only fair. "Fine," she grumbled. "Hit me."

_And I never… Saw you coming…!  
__And I'll never… Be the same…!_

Piper barely heard Hazel's voice. She just wanted to get away from the giant speakers. "Uh, tarantulas, snakes, butterflies," she replied, not really conscious of what order she said the names in.

"But those aren't your options—"

"I gotta go, Hazel," Piper excused herself. And she left.

* * *

**Hazel**

"Sheesh," muttered Hazel, crossing her arms. But then she thought about it. "Well, she didn't hear me, she doesn't reply to me. I guess it's only fair."

* * *

**Piper**

_You come around and the armor falls,  
__Pierce the room like a cannon ball,  
__Now all we know… Is don't let go…_

_We are alone, just you and me,  
__Up in your room and our slates are clean,  
__Just twin fire signs… Four clear eyes…_

As Piper walked, she bumped into someone. "Excuse me," she muttered.

"Hey, Piper," said Jason, the person who she just happened to bump into.

"Oh. Hey, Jason," said Piper as the music droned on around them.

_So you were never a saint,  
__And I've loved in shades of wrong—_

"Oh, good, Piper, you're just the one I needed to see," said Jason.

"Me?" asked Piper. "What for?"

_We learn to live with the pain,  
__Mosaic broken hearts,  
__But this love is brave and wild…!_

Jason leaned down and kissed her.

"For that," he said. "You see, we were playing this dare game with the guys, so—"

Piper smirked. "And they dared you to kiss me, your girlfriend? That isn't much of a dare."

"Thank the gods Frank was there," said Jason. "If it had been Leo, then—"

"That would have equalled trouble for you," said Piper, and she giggled, wondering what sort of dare Leo would have made Jason perform.

_And I never… Saw you coming…!  
__And I'll never… Be the same…!_

_This is a state of grace…  
__This is the worthwhile fight…  
__Love is a ruthless game…  
__Unless you play it good and right…_

"My fair lady?" Jason tried his best to sound shocked. "Doesth vou mocketh me?"

Piper playfully punched his arm, and being a demigod, it hurt a lot more than a 'playful punch'. But fortunately, Jason was also a demigod, so he hardly felt a thing.

"You're starting to sound like an actual trickster," she said, and she kissed him again.

_These are the hands of fate…!  
__You're my Achilles heel…!  
__This is the golden age of something good and right and real…_

* * *

**Thalia**

_Wait_! yelled the FanFictioner reading this_. You said Thalia wouldn't perform again. And here's a direct quote from chapter 36 to prove it!_

"_"Ohmigods that was so much fun!" squealed Rachel on their way back to the changing rooms. "I haven't ever quite been on stage for a song, and, oh, this was so much fun!"_

_"I forgot," said Annabeth blandly. "You've only been on stage one other time, in _Gods and Goddess."

_"Well, I guess after fifty other times it doesn't become that fun," sniffed Rachel, sitting down on a bench to pull off her shoe._

_"Oh, relax," said Reyna. "I'm sure the fiftieth time is just as fun as the first, right?"_

_"Whatever," Thalia said. "I go up there twice, and I am good for the rest of the day. Or evening. Or night. Or whatever.""_

I know, I know. Thalia isn't performing, though.

_Oh,_ thought the FanFictioner, slightly embarrassed now.

**-o-O-o-**

Thalia was weaving through the people on her way to the food tables again to get a drink for a few other Hunters she was hanging out with, when another song started to play. Thalia knew the song. Thalia also hated the song. It was so related to her real life's story that she hated it, hated it, hated it.

But here she was, listening to it again.

"_Dry lightning cracks across the skies…  
__Those storm clouds gather in her eyes…"_

Thalia walked a little faster.

"_Her daddy was a mean old mister,  
__Mama was an angel in the ground…"_

No, she wasn't, thought Thalia. Daddy _is _a mean god, for leaving mom. But I guess gods will be gods. And it isn't exactly his fault Mother got into drinking.

Was it?

_Leavin' Mama there beneath the winds_

There, Thalia thought. More relative.

She elbowed her way to the food area, but it was still a few minutes away. (The place was huge.) The Hunter bumped into a few people she knew and didn't know, but she ignored them.

_Just keep walking…_

_Never thinkin' 'bout the others,  
__She prayed, "Help the gods…"_

Thalia passed by a speaker. Someone shoved her into it, and the full blast of the song hit her. She called out after that person.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" she snarled, suddenly put into a sour mood.

"Watch where you're going," replied the rude Roman, and kept walking.

Thalia got off the speaker and was about to shoot an arrow at the arrogant boy, when he lost himself in the crowd. Thalia put away her boy and stowed her arrow. Both the quiver and the bow disappeared. She stared at the general direction the boy had left for a while, and then kept walking.

"_Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away…!  
__Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away…!  
__'Til there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday…  
__Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away…!  
_

_"Blown away…!"_

Thalia finally reached the food tables. She grabbed three drinks and a few napkins when someone else knocked into her, causing her to spill the drinks all over her.

"Sorry, dude," the person called out, then dissolved into the crowd.

Breathing hard, Thalia clenched her fists. _Don't start a fight, don't start a fight, don't start a—_

_She heard her Mama wailin' out…  
__That mother had an idea all planned out…_

Thalia calmed herself. She grabbed four drinks and headed off in the same direction that guy who bumped into her went. She chose one of the drinks, and when she passed him, she shoved it down his front.

_Poor girl, she was quite unnoticed,  
__Didn't really know what happened next,  
__Some people say that goddess did it,  
__She knew it wasn't her…_

"Sorry, dude," she said in the same tone he had used on her, then without looking back kept walking.

Man, that felt good.

Thalia elbowed her way back to the Hunters. They regarded her with wonder when she arrived. "What happened to you?" asked one of them.

"Stupid jerk made me spill the first round of drinks," she said, handing her two friends two of the three cups she held. "Got him back, though."

"Shoot him?"

"Nah. That would have been too messy."

"I would have shot him," said the second Hunter, drinking from her goblet. "You aren't going soft, are you, Thalia?"

_Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away…!  
__Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away…!_

"Of course not," replied Thalia easily, drinking from her cup. "Just didn't want to give the jerk the satisfaction of a painless death."

The trio laughed.

_'Til there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday…  
__Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away…!_

"_Blown away…!"_

* * *

**Hazel**

After Piper ditched her rudely, Hazel decided to go for a walk. She passed by younger Roman campers—no more than eight—pretend to fight each other wooden swords. They laughed and tumbled and rolled all over the place, and it was so… Innocent, Hazel thought. If only they knew the real deal of being a demigod. It wasn't all fun and games, fighting each other with fake swords and combat-rolling all over the place. Hazel stopped to watch them, and then decided to help them out.

_Waking up I see that everything is okay,  
__The first time in my life and now it's so great.  
__Slowing down I look around and I am so amazed,  
__I think about the little things that make life great…_

"Yo, little dudes," she said. "Watcha playing there?"

"We're not playing," the first one said. He trained his sword at Hazel as if she should be scared of it. "We're practicing for when we've gotta go out and kill monsters." He waved his wooden weapon around.

"Oh, yeah?" asked Hazel.

"Yeah!" cried the other one.

_I wouldn't change a thing about it…  
__This is the best feeling…!_

"How about I teach you some moves," said Hazel. "I know quite a few."

"Yeah?" asked the first little demigod, tossing his head to the side so his long dirty-blond hair got out of his eyes. "And who're you?"

"Why don't you take a guess?" asked Hazel.

The first one obviously had no idea, but the second one seemed to recognize her. "Hey, you're one of the demigods on that quest to defeat Gaea!" he shouted.

_This innocence is brilliant…  
__I hope that it will stay.  
__This moment…is perfect…  
__Please don't go away.  
__I need you now…!  
__And I'll hold on to it,  
__Don't you let it pass you by…_

"I sure am," said Hazel, smiling a bit.

"That's so cool!" the first one said, his sword falling to his side. "I remember my older brother was talking about you guys! He said that one of you guys blew up large portions of New Rome!"

Hazel winced. "That would have been Leo," she admitted. "But I'll let you in on a little secret." She knelt down to their level and whispered. "He isn't too bright."

_I found a place so safe, not a single tear.  
__The first time in my life and now it's so clear.  
__Feel calm, I belong, I'm so happy here.  
__It's so strong and now I let myself be sincere…_

The second boy started to giggle, but caught himself and started to laugh heartily like those men in Middle Ages movies when drunk on beer.

"But Leo _does _have a few tricks I bet none of us have," said Hazel.

"Yeah?" asked both boys in unison, giving Hazel their complete attention.

"He's a Firebender," Hazel told them, standing up and spinning on her toes. He extended her arm toward the boys, palms pointed up, as if she had a fire burning in her hands. "Immune to burning heat, he can run through flames like nobody's business! And all commando and that giant warship—he was the one who built it, you know."

"Really?" asked the second boy.

"Really," confirmed Hazel. "But sometimes when he's caught by surprise, his nose catches on fire. It's always hilarious."

_I wouldn't change a thing about it…  
__This is the best feeling…!_

"And then there's Percy and Annabeth," said Hazel. "Percy isn't as normal as you think, boys."

"Yeah?" asked the first one. "Well, none of us are anyway!"

"True, but I mean he's _really _special," explained Hazel mysteriously. "'Cause he's the son of Neptune."

"No way!" yelled the second boy, believing every word Hazel told him.

"It couldn't be truer," said Hazel. "I know him, and it's all true. He can control the very water that rushes down the shores of the ocean! Breathe underwater and talk to sea creatures. Oh, and horses. I've witnessed him with my bare eyes take down an entire army of one of the giant's minions, single-handedly! Without one scratch!"

"Impossible," said the first boy, but he seemed to be having trouble believing himself.

"But you know what the best part of him is?" asked Hazel.

The boys shook their heads in unison.

"His loyalty."

_This innocence is brilliant…  
__I hope that it will stay.  
__This moment…is perfect…  
__Please don't go away.  
__I need you now…!  
__And I'll hold on to it,  
__Don't you let it pass you by…_

"Then there's his girlfriend, Annabeth," said Hazel.

"You mentioned her!" called out the second little boy, remembering.

"I did, didn't I?" asked Hazel. She climbed up a few steps on an elevated floor, peering down at the two boys. "She's smarter than smart—more genius than genius—even Einstein bows down at her incredible knowledge. You know why? Because she's the direct descendant of the goddess Minerva."

"But she's a forever maiden!" gasped the first little boy.

"Not with the Greeks," said Hazel. "And she fights with a dagger. I remember once when she, Piper and I were trapped—cornered. And she saved us by trusting her boyfriend."

"Percy?"

"Yeah. He just so happened to be swimming nearby, so when we were told to drop our weapons, Annabeth did. Right—in—the—water." Hazel poked each boy in the stomach with each word. "And you know what Percy did? He popped right out and saved us."

_It's a state of bliss, you think you're dreaming,  
__It's the happiness inside that you're feeling,  
__It's so beautiful it makes you wanna cry…_

"And who's Piper?" asked the second boy.

Hazel started to climb up the stairs backwards so that she always faced the boys. They eagerly followed her up, lapping onto every word she said.

"I guess I haven't told you guys about her yet, have I?" said Hazel. "Well, she's another Greek. Daughter of Venus. More beautiful than the morning itself. And she has her own share of handy talents—charmspeak."

"What's that?" asked both boys in unison, mesmerized.

"She can influence anyone she wants with her words," explained Hazel. "Even her boyfriend Jason has to bow down to her sometimes."

"Jason? You mean the praetor of New Rome?" asked the first little boy.

"Yep. They are an official couple now," said Hazel.

_It's a state of bliss, you think you're dreaming,  
__It's the happiness inside that you're feeling,  
__It's so beautiful it makes you wanna cry…_

"The sixth member was another Roman," said Hazel. "And my personal favourite."

"You?" asked the second boy.

"Nope," said Hazel. "Frank. My boyfriend."

"_Eew!" _bleched the first boy.

"He's super-sweet, and is a direct descendant from Mars," explained Hazel. "He was the leader of the Alaska expedition he, Percy and I took a few days before the Argo II arrived at camp. And a small fact I think you'll both find awesome…" Hazel stopped walking, having reached the top of the floor. She leaned in close to the boys' faces and whispered—

"He can shape-shift."

"You're kidding!"

"Nope. He once all saved our luves by turning into a dolphin."

The boys were confused. "How does that work?"

Hazel laughed. "Well, it involved some acting on Percy's part, Piper and me pretending that we were possessed, and soda. Lots and lots of soda."

_This innocence is brilliant…  
__I hope that it will stay.  
__This moment…is perfect…  
__Please don't go away.  
__I need you now…!  
__And I'll hold on to it,  
__Don't you let it pass you by…_

"And what about you?" asked the first boy.

"Well, we can't forget me, now, can we?" said Hazel. "I'm the youngest of our small group of seven. But don't get me wrong—I can still whup anyone's butt I care to stumble across. And as most of the group has their own special talents, have my own." Hazel extended her arm out to the side and concentrated.

"What's she doing?" she heard a boy ask.

"I dunno."

"Just wait," Hazel told them.

Then a gold stone the size of a watermelon popped out from the floor. The boys threw themselves backwards, stumbling down the first few steps before they caught themselves and picked themselves back up again. The gold stone rested next to Hazel on the top step, who looked exhausted, with sweat slipping down her brow. She wiped it off with the back of her hand.

"Phew," she said. "Heavy."

"We're flying over a thousand feet above the ground!" exclaimed the first boy. "How and where did you get that thing?"

Hazel smiled. "I have my own share of talents, you know."

Then— _Whew. That actually was harder than I thought. I guess transporting golden stones over the total height of the ESB is harder than it sounds._

No, duh.

* * *

**Songs:  
****State of Grace – Taylor Swift  
****Blown Away – Carrie Underwood  
****Innocence – Avril Lavigne**

_**SONG CLARIFICATIONS FOR THOSE WHO DIDN'T UNDERSTAND. AND IF YOU DID, YOU CAN JUST SKIP THIS.**_

_**State of Grace **_**is about Jason. Not Piper's dad, though in some cases, like the first verse, it could be. So let's say it's both.**

**As soon as I listened to **_**Blown Away, **_**I was, like, frozen. The name Thalia popped in my head like a giant light bulb. And, anyway, the song is good. But I said Thalia would perform no longer, so she didn't. The **_**Italics **_**is the real version of the song, and the **_**Italics and Underlined, **_**were the lines Thalia made up in her head. But I left the chorus alone, just because I love the chorus. And, besides, in the song, the girl's daddy was a drinker. In Thalia's version, it was the mom. **

_**And **_**I didn't do the whole song. **

**Why? **

**Because this is a three-song chapter. **_**Duh.**_

_**Innocence **_**is a story-time chapter. That's pretty much it.**

**Review!**


	41. Two Always Beats One

**Hey!**

**Story almost done. **

**:( **

**Several POVs in this chapter. Fluffiness and kisses included as well. No Leyna, just because I sort of dislike and disapprove of it. If you guys like it, good for you. But I prefer Jeyna or Jasper. (Jeyna is better, though.) And I didn't do ALL the options (not gonna tell you for what before the story starts!) because I didn't have enough of the song. **

**(And just a reminder; POLL! Vote on POLL! And who was the person to vote for the option I said not to vote for...?)**

**_Kaytie61400_ is dedicated this chapter because she requested the song. YAY!**

* * *

**Apollo**

Apollo stared down at the scene before him. He knew it was almost daylight—of course he would, he technically _was _the sun—so he had to do what he was going to do soon.

Which was what again?

He had planned on doing it earlier, but then his little half-bro wanted to perform (so cute), then the whole Tratie fiasco, and got distracted and totally forgot. It wasn't until the party had almost ended that he remembered.

"Hey, Jimmy!" he called out.

"Yeah?" asked the boy, looking up from something.

"Where's that album… The one titled _Slow Dances for Parties?"_

"Right here, boss," said Jimmy, reaching down from underneath him and pulling out a CD from the boxes of albums resting underneath the DJ. Apollo took it and read through its songs on the back.

"Hmm… Which song?" he asked Jimmy.

Jimmy walked over and closed his eyes, swirling his fingers over the songs. He stopped over one of the songs. "That one," he said, opening his eyes. "_Two Is Better Than One_," he read the title of the song. "By Boys Like Girls and Taylor Swift."

"Good enough," said Apollo, popping it into the sound player. He hit a switch that let him turn down the volume to be overheard. "We're going to slow down things a little bit now," he called. "Men and ladies, now's your chance."

He hit play and the song in the CD came to life. He leaned back into his swirly chair and made a quick decision. "I know what I'm going to do," he said.

"What would that be?" asked Jimmy, curious.

"I'm gonna ask Artemis to dance," he said.

"But she's your sister," protested Jimmy. "And the leader of a forever-no-boys club!"

"But that's what's gonna make it funny," said Apollo. Jimmy patted the god on the back.

"Good luck," he said, and more quietly too himself, he added, "You'll need it."

* * *

**Percabeth**

Annabeth had already dancing with Percy _before _the song started. They finally stopped, both tired and laughing, and sat down on some steps.

"I wish I had some ice cream," Annabeth commented, fanning her face. "I'm so hot."

"I know you are," said Percy sweetly, pressing the top of his head into Annabeth's side playfully.

"Oh my gods, not _that _kind of hot," Annabeth said, pushing him away teasingly.

Then the slow dance song droned on. Percabeth sat there for a moment, not speaking, when Percy stood, pretended to brush some dirt off his shirt and bowed toward Annabeth.

"May I have this dance, my fair lady?" he asked in a fake accent. Annabeth went along with it and took his hand.

"Why, of course you may," she said in the same tone. Percy helped her up and extended an arm royally. Annabeth placed a hand on it and let him lead her away.

* * *

_I remember what you wore on the first day,  
__You came into my life and I thought,  
__"Hey, you know, this could be something…"_

_'Cause everything you do and words you say,  
__You know that it all takes my breath away,  
__And now I'm left with nothing…_

* * *

**Frazel **

Frank and Hazel were at the food tables when the slow dance song came on. Frank stopped with half a cake in his mouth. Hazel smiled at him, placing the grape she was about to eat back on the tray.

"So, Hazel…" started Frank awkwardly.

"So…yes?" asked Hazel.

"Uh…" said Frank even more awkwardly.

Hazel picked the grape back up and inspected it. Then she threw it at him. It bounced off his nose and rolled to the floor. "You are such a doofus," she told him playfully, pushing him.

Frank picked up another grape and threw it back at Hazel, who caught it in her mouth. She smiled. "Yum," she said.

And that was how Frazel spent their first slow dance together—throwing grapes at each other and laughing all fluffily.

* * *

_So maybe it's true…!  
__That I can't live without you…  
__Maybe two… Is better than one…_

_There's so much time…!  
__To figure out the rest of my life,  
__And you've already got me coming undone…_

_And I'm thinking two…  
__Is better than one…_

* * *

**Jasper**

Jasper's story was a little different. When the song came on, Jason and Piper stopped in the middle of the conversation they were having.

_Crud, _thought Jason. _I'm gonna have to ask her to dance and turn it all awkward._

_Crud, _thought Piper. _He's gonna have to ask me to dance and turn it all awkward._

But neither said anything.

"So…" started Jason.

"So…" started Piper.

It just turned awkward.

(But in the end, they kissed, so it was okay.)

* * *

_I remember every look upon your face,  
__The way you roll your eyes  
__The way you taste,  
__You make it hard for breathing…_

_'Cause when I close my eyes and drift away,  
__I think of you and everything's okay,_

_I'm finally now believing…_

* * *

**Thalia and Nico **

_OMIGODS! _squealed all the Thalico fans, taking out their NICOxTHALIA posters and pulling out their TEAM NICO T-shirts.

Thalia and Nico sat in chairs next to each other next to the food tables.

"Dances," said Nico distastefully, remembering the dance he and Bianca had attended in _The Titan's Curse._

"Boys," said Thalia distastefully, wishing she knew where the rest of the Hunter of Artemis were so she could join them.

"I never really got why the Hunters of Artemis hated guys," commented Nico.

"We don't," replied Thalia. "We just see them as lower-class."

"That's not fair."

"I was joking, idiot."

More silence.

"Do you think they have any cake left over?"

"'Course they do. They always do. This is Olympus, where everything is possible."

"A few minutes ago I saw them on low."

"You musta been imagining it, Nicky."

"Don't call me that."

"And whatcha gonna do about it?"

Nico started to argue, then decided it was better for his health if he didn't.

"I'm just gonna go check."

"I think I'll go with you. Just to prove to you that I'm always right_."_

* * *

_I remember what you wore on the first day,_

_You came into my life and I thought, "Hey—"_

* * *

**Apollo and Artemis**

Ah, yes. The twins.

Artemis was standing around with the rest of the Hunters, wondering where the heck Thalia was (she wanted to keep an eye on all her Hunters at a horrible time like this), when Apollo approached her.

"Crud," muttered one of the younger Hunters.

"Hey, sis," said Apollo. "What's up?"

"What do you want?" demanded Artemis, averting her gaze distastefully with the rest of the Hunters.

Apollo placed his hands behind his head. "Nothing; just wanted to say hi to my favourite little sis—"

"How many times have we discussed this, Apollo?" asked Artemis, glaring at him coldly. "I am not your little 'sis'. And before you even ask for a dance—no."

"Aw, come on, Arty," said Apollo. He wrapped an arm around his twin. "You know you want to."

In reply, Artemis grabbed her brother's hand and flipped him over her shoulder. He landed on his back with a loud thump and _O__of!_

"I'm sorry, but I don't date guys who aren't on the football team," said Artemis, and with her giggling Hunters trailing behind her, she left her brother on the ground, gasping for breath.

* * *

_And I'm thinking,  
__I can't live without you,  
__'Cause, baby, two…  
__Is better than one…_

(Even if my sibling is _soo _annoying_.)_

_There's so much time…!  
__To figure out the rest of my life,  
__But I'll figure it out,  
__When all is said and done,_

_Two is better than one…  
__Two is better than one…_

* * *

_**TRATIEFREAKINGTRATIE!**_

Travis heard the slow dance come on. Connor next to him nudged him.

"So, you gonna dance with your girlfriend?" he taunted.

"Not my girlfriend," Travis corrected.

_Yet._

So after a little persuading by Connor, Travis headed out to find Katie. He found her chatting to Lou Ellen on the top of one of those mounted floor levels. Lou Ellen caught sight of Travis coming their way, whispered something into Katie's ear with a smile on her face, and lost herself in the crowd. Travis kept approaching Katie, who looked toward the ground shyly when she saw him.

"So, uh, Katie," he continued, rubbing the back of his neck unsurely. He had no idea what to say. _Man, who knew talking to girls when you weren't trying to persuade them not to kill you after pranking their cabin could be so difficult? _

"Yes, Travis?" she asked, looking up.

"Well, I was, uh, hoping you would sort of want to, uh, you know…" His voice trailed off uncertainly.

Katie smiled sheepishly, as if she wasn't sure of what to do either. After a moment, she grabbed his arms gently and placed them on her hips, and stretching out hers around Travis' neck, swaying gently on the spot. Travis followed her. After a few moments in an awkward silence, Katie rested her head against Travis' chest.

"Katie?" asked Travis. Katie looked up at him with her sparkling brown eyes.

"Yes?" she replied.

Travis impulsively leaned down and kissed her again. But this time it wasn't a short, chopped off, only-lasting-half-a-second kiss with everyone watching—it was a real, sweet, lasting kiss.

And then a grape hit them.

"Sorry!" Hazel called out to them.

And just like that, the moment was ruined.


	42. Almost The End

**LAST STORY CHAPTER!**

**This story is finally coming to a close. You've all been so awesome, and I have to thank everyone who reviewed, favourited, followed, or even simply viewed without care. U R awesome-sauce. (Yeah, **_**OMGDemigodishness**_**, I finally did that.)**

**LAST STORY CHAPTER DEDICATED TO _EVERYONE!_**

* * *

**Travis**

I know what you're thinking— Uh oh.

You were probably thinking of that ever since you saw Travis' name in the POV section.

Well, unless you didn't, and you were just skimming this chapter.

But you guys wouldn't do that. You guys are too awesome.

"We need to do something," said Connor, fidgeting in his seat. "I haven't done anything in, like, fifteen minutes!"

"Yeah," agreed Travis, even though they had been the stars of an event that took place only four chapters ago. "We have to do something."

They shared brother glances.

"Song?" asked Connor.

"Song," confirmed Travis.

"Explosive or not?"

"I don't think we have done explosive yet," pondered Travis, trying to remember. "Unless we include the Harlem Shake."

"That one doesn't count."

"Okay. Let's do it."

"Score!" yelled Connor, pumping his arm toward himself.

_Uh oh…_ the PJO and HoO fan reading this from their electronic devices thought to themselves. Now the world explodes in a great ka-boom.

Well, the world doesn't explode.

At least, not most of it.

Ha-ha. Bookworm is teasing you.

Mostly.

**-o-O-o-**

"Lyrics?" asked Travis.

"Lyrics," confirmed Connor.

"Headsets?"

"Right here."

"Music?"

"Check."

"Immense quantity of money?"

Connor gestured with his head at the five black duffel bags lying next to them.

"Fireworks and other possibly fatal explosive devices?"

"In position."

"Jimmy in on the plan?"

Connor held up a small screen showing live video feed of Jimmy secretly counting hundreds of money rolls behind Apollo's back.

"Ready for this, little bro?" asked Travis.

"Do you know me at all?" Connor answered a question with a question.

Travis grinned and lowered his safety goggles onto his eyes, Connor copying him.

_Uh oh,_ the fanfictioner reading this thought for the second time.

* * *

**Connor**

Connor had a headache again. For some reason it kept persisting him, but fortunately this one was a minor one and was able to shake it off. (Well, compared to the ones he kept experiencing.) He had things to do.

Important things.

Apollo didn't know about this spectacular—no one except Jimmy, Travis, and Connor himself. (He really didn't want to have to include Jimmy, but Travis reasoned he was the only person other than Apollo to actually know how to control the DJ.)

Oh, and, uh, _*cough-annabethpiperhazel-cough*. _

Connor never said anything.

* * *

**Annabeth**

"I am seriously getting tired of this," said Annabeth, looking down at her new attire in the mirror.

"Well, it's better than what I've seen other people wear," commented Piper, who sat down on a bench in the changing room, slipping on some black boots.

"Not the clothes, Piper," said Annabeth. "The _performing."_

"Didn't you see what Lady Gaga once wore?" asked Hazel, completely ignoring Annabeth. "It was basically a bunch of meat sewn together. Or was that Madonna…?"

"I'm pretty sure it was Gaga. She always does stuff like that. You know…" Piper twirled her finger near her temple, explaining without words how crazy some people could be.

Annabeth looked down at her own outfit. It wasn't as far-etched as a dress sewn of meat, but it wasn't exactly casual attire either. Each girl wore black leggings and black boots with two-inch heels, and three-inched sleeved tank-tops with some sort of black jaguar design etched on the front. The contrasting colours were different for each girl—Hazel had blue, Piper pink, and Annabeth gray.

"But have you _seen _models on the runway?" asked Hazel. "I was once shown this fashion show on YouTube with an underwater theme, and you looked at those outfits and were, like, how on earth am I supposed to wear that to work and back every week? They had, like, oyster shells five feet tall strapped on their backs, only wearing the thinnest blue bikini." Hazel emphasized her point by raising her hands above her head to show how tall the oyster shell had actually been. "It was, like—"

"Unbelievable?" finished Piper. She swung her legs off the side of the bench, looking at her one boot. "Well, coming from a daughter of beauty, _these _particular outfits are actually okay."

"I think if Percy saw me in this, he would have a heart attack," said Annabeth, still looking at herself in the mirror.

Hazel giggled and Piper asked with a smallest hint of a suppressed smile, "Really?"

"No, I didn't mean… I don't know… What I meant was…"

"You're fine, Annie," said Piper.

"And the thing is, I'm not so nervous," said Annabeth. "Being up there on that freaking—"

"Don't forget _flippin'_," interrupted Hazel.

"—stage eighty million times has sort of nulled my jittery senses. Though the time stop thing revolts me anyway."

"This is probably the last performance, though," said Piper.

"Yeah," said Hazel. "So we better enjoy it!"

"The words are pretty clean," commented Piper.

"Yeah, but _so _many grammatical errors," said Annabeth. "It mocks me, really."

"Of course it does," said Hazel in what Annabeth supposed was supposed to be a sarcastic voice but wasn't pulled off well by the thirteen-year-old girl. "Now, where did my script go…?"

Annabeth looked at herself one last time in the mirror and decided to go against the Stolls rules and wear black jeans instead.

**-o-O-o-**

"Annabeth," said Travis, looking at her disapprovingly with a clipboard.

"What happened?" asked Connor in the same boring tone, looking at her the same way with his own clipboard two inches to the left and below his brother. It looked like something from a trying-to-be-comedy-but-failing-miserably movie, minus the glasses.

"Hey, I'm a girl," said Annabeth in her defence. "I know more about fashion than the both of you together."

"Really?" asked Travis, not believing it.

Annabeth crossed her arms. "In the 2000s, with the Pakistani industry which bloomed in the 1900s, the quality and mystique of Italian fashion is unsurprisingly dominant in the twentieth century and Milan well established as the "center" of fashion and design. As the future began to seem increasingly bleak, fashion, and indeed the Arts in general, looked to the past for inspiration, arguably more so than in previous decades. Vintage clothing became extremely popular and fashion designers often sought to emulate bygone styles in their collections. The early 2000s saw a continuation of the minimalist look of the 1990s in high fashion, adopted and incorporated into Giorgio Armani's designs."

"Are you done yet?" asked Travis in a boring voice.

"You've made your point," added Connor.

Annabeth simply walked past them. They weren't worth her time.

* * *

**Hazel**

Hazel ran through the song one last time with Piper and Annabeth.

"So many errors," the wise one kept mumbling.

"Hey, as long as they know what we're saying, it's fine," said Hazel.

"You know, grammar saves lives," said Annabeth.

"Really?" asked Piper.

"Yep. And so does punctuation. I'll show you." She grabbed a nearby pen and jotted down on the back of her lyrics—_Let's eat, Grandma!_

"So?" asked Piper, not getting it.

Annabeth smirked and wrote down beneath it, _Let's eat Grandma!_

It took Piper a moment to understand. "Oh, gods!" she laughed. "I am _so_ teaching that one to Leo!"

"Can we focus now?" asked Hazel.

"Sure," said Piper. "Totally focused." She forced herself to make a straight face, but couldn't handle it and broke out laughing.

"This'll take a while," decided Hazel.

* * *

**Piper**

Piper was standing below the stage, waiting for a platform to rise. She held her microphone up in her right hand, held up beside her face and a little bit over. She knew better than to practice her lines in her head—with her, it was practice once or twice, then forget. Overdo the preparation, forget everything at show time. And there was nothing more humiliating than fumbling a line in front of the freaking _gods._

So Piper hummed the song she was about to sing as she felt her lower stomach twitch. She wondered how Annabeth was handling her nausea. Probably not well. (This wasn't good on their part, since Annabeth had the first lines.)

She heard the music jam on. Piper had never been able to decide what instrument played at first, but eventually decided on GuitarBand.

The platform started to rise. Fake fog rolled down into her cozy cavern, but Piper knew better than to break her posture to swat it out of her eyes just so that she could see better. And it wasn't like it _hurt _her eyes anyway. She saw out of the corners of her eyes Annabeth rise up a little sooner as well as Hazel a bit farther on.

Annabeth twirled her mike around her fingers expertly and started to the tune of _Last Friday Night_—

"_There's a sense of ending dread,  
__Like something inside me is dead." _Here she beat her chest twice with the heel of her free hand. The lights darkened for a moment, focusing only on the main girl. Annabeth extended her arm out toward the crowd below with curled fingers, and blue sparks danced across her palm.

"_Sparkles dance beneath the gloom,  
__The smell of Miss Dior perfume!" _Annabeth closed her hand into a fist and thrust it outward, throwing the sparks toward the audience. They easily flew over the edge and snapped in the air just above the heads of innocent people with a non-painful burst.

_Here goes nothing, _thought Piper as the lights went back to as normal as they could.

"_Celebration on a star," _added Piper on to Annabeth's part. She could faintly see a yellow star flash on her floor-screen she stood on.  
"_Just let me get my rad guitar—"_

Annabeth, who had still been standing nearby, caught a pink guitar that had been tossed over from the sides invisibly by the neck and strapped it on herself. She struck the next chord of the song beside Piper, who sang—

"_It's not me, now, don't accuse,  
__Come on, give Bookworm reviews!"_

The lights dimmed slightly, and Piper saw the guitar dissolve off Annabeth in a flowering cascade of pink sparks. It was Hazel's turn now.

"_Just us having fun,  
__Wish it be redone—  
__I'm gone…  
__Oh, well." _Hazel walked over to the left-middle, shrugging slightly. She spun on the spot, and blue sparks danced all across her outfit, outlining her pretty features. She dusted a little off her shoulder before adding—

"_Nothing needed to improve,  
__Gods out there yell they approve…_

"_Gods…!"_

Now came the interesting part. As Hazel had been singing her first part, both Piper and Annabeth had crossed over to Hazel's left. They now all stood in about the middle, Annabeth in the middle and a bit more in front. With the next two words, they took three strides forward/out to the sides, and with the last one stomped them back together.

"_Last Friday night!" _the three girls sang in unison. They tapped their left wrists once and spun on their heels, which drove them up about five more inches.

"_Yeah, we sang until o'clock,  
__Good thing that there are no cops,  
__Screaming, dancing, all nonstop—!_

"_Last Friday night!"_

A giant globe of the earth flashed behind them for a second before their next line ended.

"_Too big for the earth's involves,  
__It was easily resolved,  
__Yeah, the problem was devolved—!_

"_Last Friday night!_

"_Somehow we're all question-mark,  
__Just passed on that cruel remark,  
__Wreaking havoc in the dark—"_

The lights all died all of a sudden, enveloping all of Mount Olympus in darkness. The music halted, and everything went quiet. Piper waited for a count of three, then all the lights flew back on and the music continued right where it had ended.

"_Last Friday night!_

"_Yeah, I think we broke the law,  
__Too bad; we're on to-oh,  
__Whoa-oh-oah!_

"_This Friday night…!  
__Do it all again…_

"_This Friday night…!  
__Do it all again…_

Piper rounded off to the right while Hazel and Annabeth headed left. Once she reached a certain point, Piper purposely kicked her right heel back slightly—nothing you would notice unless you just happened to be staring intensely at her feet. The sensors programmed into the über-intelligent floor took note of this and a staircase covered with fog appeared silently—another thing you wouldn't notice until Piper was climbing up the steps with the heavy fog rolling down at her knees.

"_Now, come on, give me some adore,  
__Come on, gimme gimme more—" _Piper leaned forward and extended both arms out in front of her, as if embracing an invisible person in front of her—or gesturing for someone else to get closer to her. She drew her arms toward her and spun, clicking her heels invisibly while doing so.

_There is no place like home, _she thought as she did this.

Another invisible-due-to-mist ramp extended out inward, and Piper took two steps onto it. She tapped her lips once with a flourish and raised both hands above her head in a slam-dunk motion.

"_Goin' out with awkward kiss,  
__Rick's got nothing to top this!"_

Annabeth took it from there, from the left side of the stage.

"_For a reason can't explain,  
__I feel some sort of mental pain—_

"_There's no need to reconfirm,  
__Now really, review for Bookworm!"_

Hazel, sitting on the railing of the left stairs dreamily drew a pattern in the fog rolling by her thighs.

"_Just us having fun,  
__Wish it be redone—  
__I'm gone…  
__Oh, well." _She picked up her fog-picture somehow and threw it up in the air, revealing it to be a heart. The heart burst into blue streamers, cascading on top of her. (There was _definitely _a lot of magic being used in this show.)

"_Nothing needed to improve,  
__Gods out there yell they approve…_

"_Gods…!"_

Piper had the sudden mental image of Hera wearing an aphro. She had no idea where it came from, but it was hilarious. It took all her strength not to burst out in laughing tears, but wasn't able to hold back the huge grin she out on instead.

"_Last Friday night!_

"_Yeah, we sang until o'clock,  
__Good thing there are no real cops,  
__Screaming, dancing all nonstop—!"_

A large firework shot out from the center of the stage and flew over everyone's heads with a gold extension tailing behind it. It broke off on the next _Last Friday night! _and fell on top of the heads of everyone who just happened to be beneath it. The firework exploded with hardly a sound a little farther back in a flurry of gold sparks.

"_Too big for earth involves,  
__It was easily resolved,  
__Yeah, the problem was devolved—!_

"_Last Friday night!"_

"_Somehow we're all question-mark,  
__Just passed on that cruel remark,  
__Wreaking havoc in the dark—!"_

Twin rockets flew out—each one headed off in a different direction. They curved around each other in a large figure eight and exploded when they collided into one another, forming a large metal heart that fell. Fortunately, no one was squashed. (Connor had reassured Piper that even if someone _had _not seen it falling and scurried out of the way, it was completely push-off-able. She wasn't sure if she'd be ready to trust that on her life.)

"_Last Friday night!_

"_Yeah, I think we broke the law,  
__Too bad; we're on to-oh,  
__Whoa-oh-oah,_

"_This Friday night…"_

All three girls started clapping above their heads, chanting "_T-T-G.I.F.!_ _T-T-G.I.F.!" _It eventually caught on, and everyone was chanting _T-T-G.I.F._ And during the epic saxophone break, on the two screens, short YouTube videos started to roll—staring goats, tigers, and a depressing Dionysus.

_T-T-G.I.F.!  
__T-T-G.I.F.!  
T-T-G.I.F.! _  
_T-T-G.I.F.!_  
_T-T-G.I.F.! _  
_T-T-G.I.F.!_

"_Last Friday night!_

"_Yeah, we sang until o'clock,  
__Good thing there are no real cops,  
__Screaming, dancing all nonstop—!_

"_Last Friday night!"_

"Thank the gods!" yelled Piper at the crowd, clapping her hands above her head in unison with the beat.

"_Too big for earth involves,  
__It was easily resolved,  
__Yeah, the problem was devolved—!_

"_Last Friday night!"_

"Come on, now!" yelled Hazel. "Sing along!"

"_Somehow we're all question-mark,  
__Just passed on that cruel remark,  
__Wreaking havoc in the dark—!_

"_Last Friday night!_

"_Yeah, I think we broke the law,  
__Too bad; we're on to-oh,  
__Whoa-oh-oah,_

"_This Friday night…!_

"_Do it all again!"_

All the girls in unison with each other pumped their left fists up into the air. From the sides of the stage, two fireworks flew up and kept going up. After they had seemingly flown up out of existence, they blew up in a shower of sparks.

And then the Stoll's firework show started. Big blasts of blue and yellow and every other colour imaginable—even colours that shouldn't even exist. Large bangs and breath-taking spectacular lights illuminated the sky, showering down multi-coloured sparks on the spectators below. Annabeth, Piper and Hazel looked up from the stage, and everyone else craned their necks upward to sneak a glimpse at the show. Piper dropped her arm back to her side and enjoyed the spectacle.

It was amazing.

* * *

**Connor**

Connor couldn't take it anymore; he left when the fireworks started. His headache was getting worse and worse—he had hoped that on Mount Olympus all the godly aura or whatever would get rid of it for a few hours. But the high-pitch shrill and the throbbing agony in his head persisted relentlessly, until Connor was forced to take a seat somewhere.

The headaches had started two weeks ago.

Connor knew that his time was running short.

He only had one week left.

Connor's mind kept drifting involuntarily to the box under his bed at Camp Half-Blood, which contained the cursed thing. He closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain, music, and most importantly, the words of the man who had saved him, and could easily damn him for all of eternity. His voice swam in his head against his will, as if warning him.

"_Six weeks," he said. "Then the deal is off. _

"_Permanently."_

* * *

**I am such a troller.**

**Don't worry; there will be a sequel to this story sometime in the future. BUT, there is one last chapter.**

**Contest result chapter! So don't you abandon me just yet! **

**And if you recognize some of the lyrics, congratulations! You now know who I am. (I **_**MIGHT**_** be using a tweaked version of these lyrics for Music Class, because we have to write a song, and I'm too lazy to come up with another one. Key word in sentence, MIGHT. No promises.)**

**Song guide:**

**Last Friday Night – Katy Perry (changed by me!)**

**AND, except for the song guide and the **_**Last Friday Night, **_**it's completely self-made. (Ohmigods I could be a song-writer when I grow up! And then I could get someone to sing my songs. 'Cause I don't sing.)**

**(PS; I don't own PJO and HoO.)**

**Thank the Gods It's Friday!**


	43. BEST-SONG AWARDS!

**I'm not Rick. Deal with it.**

**Now, THE WINNERS!**

* * *

(Stage is all dark. No lights, no sounds, no nothing. All of a sudden, BAM! A twelve-year-old Canadian girl is revealed when the bright and flashing lights hit the stage. She wears a purple jacket and ripped jeans, with her dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail even though the girl never wears ponytails. She has her back to the audience. She spins on her heels to face the front, waving to her adoring fans, and holding up her microphone and speaking into it, revealing gold and silver braces on her top teeth.)

_Bookworm_: Thank you, thank you! Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Mount Olympus Dance Party's (MODP) favourite song awards! We had quite a variety of results—including _Gangnam Style, Sexy and I Know it_, and even the Pokémon Battle, which I actually did include as a song if you voted for it! Though I think only one person actually did...

_Random Person in the Audience:_ What songs did you vote for, Bookworm?!

_Bookworm_: Oh. Easy. My first vote was for Drew's song—_I'm a Little Bad Girl_—'cause that was so much fun to write and it was special because I made it just for you guys!

(Cheering.)

_Bookworm_: My next vote was for _Turn It Up_, the first song of thy story_,_ just because it's so awesome.

(More cheering.)

_Bookworm_: Unfortunately, neither of these songs placed in first, second or third. The ones who did are listed below.

(Extreme cheering.)

_Bookworm_: Thank you, thank you, you're all too kind. But really, I'm the one who should be thanking you. You guys were the people who reviewed to my story, PMd me, and criticized MODP to make me a better writer. I don't think I once got a real, no hearted flame. So, like, thanks. And this was a wonderful experience for me as well. FORTY-THREE CHAPTERS, over a HUNDRED THOUSAND WORDS and over TWO HUNDRED FIFTY REVIEWS! Everyone, applaude for yourself!

(Everyone claps wildly.)

_Another Random Guy in the Audience:_ The results!

_Bookworm_: Yes, yes, time to cut out of sappy mode. The results are…

**THIRD PLACE**

**(::) **

_Bookworm_: This one is a cute one. It only had two votes, but still was enough to scrape up to third place. I don't think this particular goddess is going to be very happy with me for this one, but, who cares? I'm the host! No one can touch me! At least for now… (Looks around nervously.) Anyway… Please welcome our third place winners, singing _Good Time_ by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepson, _THE TWINS FROM AWESOME!_

(Apollo walks from behind a curtain, waving and shining off his brilliant white teeth. Artemis follows him, arms crossed in a frustrated way. Hunters of Artemis in the crowd cheer, as well as the Apollo cabin and any Roman descendants from CJ.)

_Apollo_: It's my honour to be here tonight. Of course, the song was my idea, so I think you should just give me all the cookies and Blue Moon here none—

_Artemis_: _WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!_

_Apollo_: You really need to work on your anger management, sis. No offense.

_Artemis_: I would shoot you right now, but letting you let go without pain isn't good enough. Guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way. (Rolls up sleeves and prepares to murder Bookworm and Apollo with her bare hands.)

_Bookworm_: (Thrusts two hundred cookies into Apollo's arms.) _GO, GO, GO! _

(Bookworm and Apollo take off, Artemis following them angrily.)

TEN MINUTES LATER

_Bookworm_: Sorry for that, folks. Just…uh… (Scratches hair that isn't quite so leveled any more. Ripped jeans are now more ripped than before. Purple jacket is gone, revealing a white tank top with a red Canadian maple leaf on it.) Anyway… Second place!

**SECOND PLACE**

**(::) (::) **

_Bookworm_: In second place is a song that I personally loved. It was one of the original songs of this story, thought of and planned of from the very beginning, even before MODP even existed. It's a Ke$ha cover, with your favourite Prophecy Seven girls, singing _Die Young, _it's _HAZEL AND PIP-AHH!_

(Bookworm points to the side of the stage, where a curtain opens to reveal Piper and Hazel. Both are wearing dresses and high-heels. Piper shakes Bookworm's hand, then Hazel.)

_Bookworm_: Congratulations! (Reaches into pocket and pulls out a bag, then spills its contents into Hazel's and Piper's greedy hands. Four hundred cookies fall out. Piper and Hazel grab as many as they can and walk off stage with their arms and mouths full.)

_Bookworm_: And the good thing is, though those cookies are the best you'll never find, they don't cost you any weight! Isn't that awesome? (Tosses empty cookie bag into crowd.)

**FIRST PLACE**

**(::) (::) (::)**

_Bookworm_: And our first place winner for our story tonight is one I never really thought was that famous. I never really guessed that it would be so popular. But I'm guessing that there are a lot of Directioners out there, 'cause our first place winners with eight votes is…

(Drumroll, even though everyone already knows what it is.)

_OTHER FREAKING DIRECTION!_

(Points at curtains, and Percy, Jason, Frank, Leo and Nico walk out. Nico-fan club screams in the audience. Leo blows kisses at the Leo-fan club. Frank blushes. Nico stares coldly at the ground. Jason and Percy wave.)

_Bookworm_: Congratulations! _Very_ impressed, boys.

_Leo_: It was nothing, really.

_Bookworm_: (Raises an eyebrow.) So you wouldn't mind if I just kept these fifteen hundred cookies for myself—that's three hundred for each of you, you know…

_Percy, Jason, Frank and surprisingly Nico_: LEO!

_Leo_: Uh… No, please?

_Bookworm_: (Holds out cookie bag.) But, boys, I need to tell you a very fine warning, a warning that could very much save your lives—

(Other Direction doesn't care. Other Direction eats all the cookies in less than ten seconds. Bookworm looks over at them patiently.)

_Leo_: (with mouth full of cookies) You were saying?

_Bookworm_: Now, boys, here's the catch.

_Percy_: (Stops chewing.)

_Jason_: Crud.

_Leo_: [insert choice of swear word here]

_Frank_: (face-palms)

_Nico_: (Looks at the ground, murmuring, _I knew it_.)

_Bookworm_: Well, I wasn't able to mention this before—thanks for that, 'cause now there's some fun—but first place winners have to perform another song to keep their share of the cookies.

_Percy_: But we already ate all of them! So _HA!_

_Leo_: (nervously) But, uh, what happens if we _don't _perform again?

_Bookworm_: (Shrugs casually.) All the cookies self-destruct.

(The boys look down at the stomachs in horror.)

_Other Direction in unison:_ Aw, crud.

_Bookworm_: And if the show isn't good, the cookies will still self-destruct. But on the bright side, if you do manage not to die, you can ask me any question, any secret, and I'll be forced to answer truthfully.

_Frank_: (Narrows eyes.) What kind of secret?

_Bookworm_: A deep, down, straight from the soul and possibly evil secret.

(Other Directions looks at each other in unison, wondering, _What choice do we have?)_

_Jason_: Fine. Just give us fifteen minutes. (Boys huddle in the corner of the stage.)

_Bookworm_: (Speaking to the camera again.) Well, let's give 'em what they want! In the meantime, walk your dog. Pet a stranger. Eat salami! And if you really don't have anyting to do, do the homework you're supposed to be doing right now instead of reading stuff on FanFiction! Me? I'm going to go write my last will and testament now. See you after the break. (Walks off stage.)

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER

(Bookworm walks back on stage, still scribbling stuff down on an old, yellow parchment with a fancy feather pen.)

_Bookworm_: (murmuring to self) And all my books to my BFF, who better know is my BFF, and laptop must be buried with me because of all the stories on there, and my diary is to be donated to the library, and— (Looks up.) Oh. (Quickly throws last will and testament backstage.) Anyway, it's time for our final performance of the story, the performance that determines whether or not these fine lads explode or not! Let's see what they've got!

* * *

**Other Direction**

The stage is all dark. No soul dares to make a sound in case they miss something important. All is quiet for three seconds. Then seven guitar chords sound out, and all the girls in the audience go crazy, recognizing the song. To back up this fact, a pair of drumsticks beat against each other four times. This session repeats once more, before the lights fly on one particular boy to the left of the stage.

"_Hey girl, I'm waitin' on ya, I'm waitin' on ya," _started Leo. All the girls squealed and flew to the left side of the stage in hopes of being able to touch the hand of Leo Valdez.  
"_Come on and let me sneak you out."_

Leo strode over to the other side of the stage while adding—

"_And have a celebration, a celebration,  
__The music up, the window's down."_

Leo passed by Jason, and the single ray of light changed and went on him. Jason kept walking toward the left while adding on to Leo's part.

"_Yeah…  
_

_"We'll be doing what we do,  
__Just pretending that we're cool,  
__And we know it too…"_

Jason reached down and touched the hands of a few Jasper fans. All the Jasper fans he touched fainted, but not wanting to miss out on the show, forced themselves to reawaken again.

"_Yeah…  
_

_"We'll keep doing what we do,  
__Just pretending that we're cool,  
__So tonight—"_

"_Let's go—!" _

The lights flashed on to reveal the other three Other Direction members. Nico was sitting behind a drum kit, tapping on a few drums every once in a while. On the big one at the bottom was written _OTHER DIRECTION! _Percy had an electric guitar strapped on, and another one he held. He tossed it to Jason, who caught it easily by the neck and strapped it on himself. Frank was standing behind a keyboard, pressing a few keys at random as if he had no idea what he was doing. And Leo just stood there, being Leo.

Leo was just awesome like that.

"—_Crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun!" _they chanted together. The lights flew all over the place, disorienting a few people. But they quickly got over it to watch. Smoke shot out of guysers from the side.

"_I know we only met but let's pretend it's love.  
__And never, never, never stop for anyone…!  
__Tonight let's get some—!_

_"And live while we're young."_

Percy and Jason really knew those instruments, unlike Frank. Fortunately for the band, the keyboard was on autopilot, so it simply played the song how it was supposed to go. Frank simply pretended to pound the keys.

"_Woahhh oh oh oh…!  
__Woahhhh oh oh oh…!_

"_And live while we're young…_

"_Woahhh oh oh oh…!  
__Tonight let's get some—!"_

The music abruptly stopped.

"_And live while we're young," _finished Percy. A smoke guyser hit him from below, envelloping him and hiding him from view. Everyone in the room fainted, either for their first time or for their second. (Some people may be skeptical about some pairings, but Percabeth was an absolute must.) But then everyone got back up and started jamming out to the music again.

"_Hey girl, it's now or never, it's now or never," _started Jason, standing up to a mike at the front of the stage.  
"_Don't over-think, just let it go…  
_"_And if we get together, yeah, get together,  
__Don't let the pictures leave your phone." _Jason stopped strumming for a second to pretend to hold up a phone. He pretended to toss it into the crowd, and a few girls who actually thought the phone was real went to catch it.

"_Ohhhh…"_

From behind the keyboard, Frank added into his mike—

"_Yeah, we'll be doing what we do,  
__Just pretending that we're cool—_

_"So tonight—!"_

(Here all the Frazel fans squealed.)

"_Let's go crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun!" _they chanted together.  
"_I know we only met but let's pretend it's love.  
__And never, never, never stop for anyone…!  
__Tonight let's get some—!_

_"And live while we're young."_

Nico hit the drums uselessly. If they had actually been turned on, the noise would have been unbelivable as well as horrifying. But also in fortune, Other Direction had predicted this outcome and had put that in autopilot as well. Nico's drumsticks didn't play any sound, which was fine to him. He saw this as a sit-up-there-and-do-nothing-and-live sort of activity. And that was exactly what he was doing.

"_Woahhh oh oh oh…!  
__Woahhhh oh oh oh…!_

"_And live while we're young…_

"_Woahhh oh oh oh…!  
__Tonight let's get some—!"_

Then Percy added, "_And live while we're young…" _He winked at Annabeth in the audience—who had been fuming that over all the songs she had performed she hadn't placed in anything—but when she caught sight of Percy, her heart melted and it was okay again. Everyone's heart melted along with it, and everyone fainted again. But like before, they quickly got back up.

The music played without lyrics for a moment, then continued with—

"_And girl…!  
__You and I…  
__We're 'bout to make some memories, tonight…!" _sang Jason, strumming a different tune on his guitar.

And here the Nico fan-club squealed and died when Nico's only solo in the song started.

"_I wanna live while we're young," _Nico said glumly from behind his drumkit.  
"_We wanna live while we're young—"_

Everyone who knew the song started singing.

"_Let's go—!_

_"Crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun!  
__I know we only met but let's pretend it's love.  
__And never, never, never stop for anyone…!  
__Tonight let's get some—!_

_"And live while we're young…!"_

Here Leo walked over to the side of the stage where Bookworm watched with her arms crossed. He held out his hand for her to take it. At first, she refused. But finally, and reluctantly, Bookworm took it. Leo dragged her to the stage and shoved a microphone into her face.

"I can't sing," she told him.

"Gods, Bookworm, no one here can," Leo replied. "That's why you made the microphones magic so that whoever sings in them has a good voice, remember?"

"Oh," said Bookworm, who had forgotten about that minor detail. "I did, didn't I…?"

Leo pushed her forward, and without thinking, Bookworm sang—

"_Tonight let's get some—!  
__And live while we're young!" _She immediately started blushing and went to hide her face, but Jason and Percy pushed her back.

"_Wanna live,  
__Wanna live,  
__Wanna live—"_

"_Come on, younnngg…"_

"_Wanna live,  
__Wanna live,  
__Wanna live—"_

"_While we're young…"_

"_Wanna live,  
__Wanna live,  
__Wanna live—"_

"_Tonight let's get some—!" _sang Percy.

"_And live while we're young!" _finished Bookworm. Leo and Jason grabbed her hands and raised them above her head in triumph. The crowd roars with insane approval.

"YES!" yelled Percy.

* * *

_Bookworm_: Wow, I really hate you guys now. (Hands Leo her microphone.) But I gotta admit, that was pretty impressive for only fifteen minutes of preparation.

_Leo: _Actually, Jimmy helped us with a time-stop.

_Jason, Percy, Frank and Nico: _SHUT UP!

_Bookworm: _(Raises an eyebrow skeptically.) Okay, then. I'll pretend that I didn't hear that part. And so, you're not exploding! (Claps hand once joyfully.) And, since you performed _two _One Direction songs, you may now change your name from Other Direction, to _Double Direction!_

_Double Direction:_ YES!

_Bookworm_: But you guys were never in danger of exploding. I made that self-destruct cookie thing so you guys would perform.

(Silence as Double Direction stares at Bookworm. Percy faints. Frank kicks him awake. Percy looks up, shakes his head groggily, and stands up.)

_Jason_: But we still get to ask you a question.

_Bookworm_: Indeed.

(Double Direction huddles for a moment. Murmurs for a while, then comes to an agreement.)

_Jason_: We've decided, that your question will be…

(Everyone stands up on the edge of their seats, anticipating an answer, including Bookworm herself. Jason doesn't speak for a moment, gathering tension. Eventually he takes it too far, and Leo speaks up for him.)

_Leo_: We want to know what your real name is.

(The audience gasps. The demigods gasp. All the Greek and Roman gods gasp. Fanfictioners reading this at home gasp. The entire world gasps. The universe and every dimension in it gasps at this unthinkable question.)

_Random Announcer That Came Out of Nowhere:_ How dare they? How dare Double Direction ask Bookworm such a question? And what will Bookworm do? Will she be as astonished as everyone else? Will she refuse to answer? Will she—

_Bookworm_: (Flicks a switch, and a random piano falls on top of the announcer.) Everyone is a host these days! (Rolls her eyes.) Now, let's get this over with. (Breathes in deeply.) My name—my real name—is…

* * *

**You guys were trolled so bad I'm laughing at the expressions I can't even see.**

**So this concludes my story, MODP. There shall be a sequel; why Connor did not die when the Romans attacked. But I am not finished it yet. So murder me all you want in the PMs, I'll probably just ignore them, but I shall update when I update. **

**Peace!**


End file.
